Crab Fest
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 12 Apr 2009 22:30
|
Crab
Fest
   Off we went in search of the crab
fest at Morne-a-L'Eau, the long queue of cars bode
well for a day I thought would resemble a county fair. The clouds looked ominous when we saw the
flags - www.feteducrabe.com Bear in the
square.
The whole day was a celebration of
this chap - the Mangrove Crab
   The first thing we saw in the huge
crowds was a man leaning against one of the stalls,
he had a bun just the same but from the front had a huge bushy beard. The band preparing - noise awesome.
   The colour,
the tradition, the people - including this chap with a huge
nose-ring. The noise and crowds was very unfamiliar to us.
 A man had made these enormous creatures and was selling small
ones.
   Crabs were
everywhere, fresh, raw, cooked and stewed. The man selling from this van picked
out each crab and laced his claw hand with sugar cane - then laced a kind of
jock strap around the carapace, when four or six were ready he laced them
together, rather like a string of onions. Very strange the first time we saw
it.
   We stood and enjoyed a band of
drummers, own web site www.masbokoka.com
This lady was selling traditional juice, her right hand is using a kind of plane
with a box that scrapes and collects ice, which she packs into a cup and adds
juice. Original Slush Puppy. Crabs everywhere. It
poured hard for a while during a cloud burst, that didn't bother anyone's fun -
just gave me a chance to fill my lungs with some terrible aromas - I use the
term loosely, coming out of the food tents.
 The top dish is stuffed christophines (Bear bought two) the lower dish is
stuffed crab. He also bought
himself a box of crab paella.
   This green
crab stew I will not even begin to describe how it smelt, I was just too
pleased when Bear said he didn't fancy it. Ladies at
one of the many food stalls. The number one judged
dish of the day.
 All I will say is you have to love
someone to sit opposite them when they eat something like
this. I won't mention the bodily reaction to it either.
ALL IN ALL a
very unique day dedicated to the humble mangrove crab.
|