I found a live one once on my plate of sashimi. I ate the body but couldn’t bring myself to eat the head, still kicking. Also tried raw pregnant ebi, full of blue eggs, which I hadn’t seen before.

Well, I usually eat the fried head–this comes out after you order a fresh Amaebi. Looking at a photo like this makes things seem more gruesome. But I usually find the head very good.

I eat them whenever I can. Their crunchiness makes a nice contrast with the soft sweet flesh of the raw amaebi.

Now, even though I am from the South, one thing I am a little squeamish about is sucking the heads of crawfish. Ever tried that?

I used to eat fried crawfish tails all the time as a kid (we call them crawdads in Kentucky), but I haven’t even heard of sucking their heads.