I am a big fan of crab. Snow, Dungeness, Alaskan king, blue, or really any variety of crab. Except for imitation crab, or as it is sometimes spelled, krab. It is a huge disappointment to me when I go into a restaurant and order a dish that is advertised as crab and find that it is krab. So I’m goanna be a little crabby about it and complain.
When I go into a chain restaurant where the menu is on the wall behind the checkout counter, I can assume I am going to get krab when they are advertising crab. However, when I go into a wait service restaurant, where dinner can be $20+ per person – and I get Krab when crab is advertised, now I’m getting pissed.
In a lot of sushi places around the US, per my own travels as I have recently been to California, DC, Virginia, and Utah – increasingly the crab in the sushi rolls is actually krab. In one recent experience the appetizer was named ‘snow crab tower’ which is telling the reader that they are about to receive one of the more delicate and delicious crabs out there. But upon questioning of the waitress who then had to ask the sushi chef, it was most unfortunately krab meat. What irks me about this encounter is one, the waitress does not know what the dishes contain. She couldn’t answer the question about the authenticity of the meat being offered. Second, I was sitting at the sushi counter and both sushi chefs answered by contradicting each other. One insisted it was crab, the other told me the truth.
So let’s go ahead and address the main argument against presenting crab to the customers – the cost. Well, that’s fine. If your not willing to offer an expensive ingredient then that’s your choice. But do not pass off the imitation, cheap option at the same price and quality as the real thing. For most things in life, imitation does not measure up. Restaurants are perfectly capable of offering expensive ingredients when they put it on the menu as market price. Then if all of your ingredient is not used up immediately, you just then use it in some kind of special offering the next day. Problem solved.
I guess I take for granted the truth in advertising laws. I truly do want to know what it is that I am eating and I want the good stuff when it’s available (and I can afford it). I do not want to be lied to, misdirected, or taken advantage of. Do not charge me $10 for an app that does not even contain the main ingredient on which it is being advertised. If you say you have crab on the menu – then for the love of food – have crab in the dish. If you have Krab in the dish, then be honest to your customers on how you advertise on the menu.