and previous to that.....

by RayLee, Tuesday, September 10, 2024, 21:09 (72 days ago) @ RayLee

at damage controlman "A" school on treasure island in san francisco bay. I would watch filipinos serving their shore duty there on sundays catching crabs in traps baited with whole chickens. The crab catch was pitifully small so I asked the economic trade-off of wasting a perfectly good roasting chicken by soaking it all day in the polluted waters of the bay. To which I was told that the chicken would not be wasted by any means. It would be boiled in the same pot as the crabs, deboned and then stir-fried in a wok and served alongside those same crabs.

The next day at the base galley I recognized some of those same crab fishermen serving in the galley kitchen. I had no stomach for chicken salad for months to come.