A few weeks ago I took an unexpected trip down memory lane at the grocery store. While in the canned meat section, I happened to see some canned crab meat. Years ago, when I was dieting, I would sometimes eat canned seafood, since it's surprisingly low in calories. While also being fairly tasty and filling. As I was looking to drop a few pounds once again, I bought some more, both the crab, and some minced clams. And by chance, one of the cans I picked up was from Vietnam, by way of a Japanese company. Specifically, the "fancy white crab meat" from the Geisha brand.
This brand name sounded familiar, and I did a brief review of my blog history. I learned that I'd tried a Geisha product before, in my post about baby corn on August 13, 2022. So, if you're interested in the company behind the Geisha brand, Kawasho Foods, feel free to check out that post. But I'll refrain from repeating much now. Instead, I'll focus on the animal that I ate. Fortunately, the official Geisha website provided the identity of the exact type of crab I'd had, which was the blue swimmer crab. Among other common names, as it's also called "blue crab," "flower crab," and others. This species is native to the Indo-Pacific region, off the coasts of the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, and of course, Vietnam. Only the males are actually blue--the females are more of a greenish-brown color. As the end of the common name suggests, this crab is a talented swimmer. The males also use their substantial front claws to help keep rival males out of their individual territory. Their claws, and evident aggression are of little use versus humans, alas, so this crab is a very popular food source. They're sometimes eaten in their less mature, soft shell state, or later in their mature harder shells. The crabs also do well when they're farmed, which clearly makes it easier to harvest them. (Although my can noted that my crabs were wild caught.) The blue swimmer crab's distinctive movements also have had an odd cultural impact, as it inspired the movements of some characters in the Filipino stage plays/festivals called Linambay, or sometimes moro-moro.
Geisha fancy white crab meat: No real odor, surprisingly. Looked like white mush. And it was--it must have been severely minced, or even pureed, since no pieces were even as big as a grain of sand. It tasted kind of like regular crab, but watery and weak. (It had been packed in water, but I drained out what I could.) I had this plain, as I always used to do with canned seafood. Overall this was very disappointing. I usually love crab but this was like the light beer of crabmeat--a weak-tasting approximation of the real thing. I guess given its whipped up nature it's more intended to be added to soups or stews or something. But I definitely do not recommend this, and won't buy it again. I'll stick to canned seafood that retains its texture, and flavor.
When I saw the brand name (again) I wondered if it was a bit tasteless, or even offensive. I was under the impression that "geishas" were synonymous with prostitutes, and thus this might have been a rude term. I was happy to learn that I this was cultural misunderstanding on my part. I guess my first clue should have been that a Japanese company named this, and not a non-Japanese business. The overall story is very detailed, but long story short, geishas were, and still are, performing artists and entertainers who do traditional songs, dances, and musical renditions, usually while wearing distinctive makeup, hairstyles, and clothing. But nearly all geishas were not prostitutes, and didn't exchange sexual favors for money to their audience members. So, at least this can of seafood ultimately led me to learn a little something about a different culture.
