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Kräftskivor - Crayfish party


Grövelsjön, northern Dalarna, August 2006
Originally uploaded by marielinder.

Kräftor är ett litet djur som ser ut som en hummer. De har två klor och hundretals av ben. Svenskarna äter dem i augusti men värför vet jag inte. Kräftor innehåller nästan ingenting som man kan äta. Det finns ett stycke kött samma storlek som min lilla tå vid svansen och två stycken i klorna, men det är mycket små. Man måste dra ut köttet från den hårda skalet med fingren. Man behöver bra syn och ljus. Därför är kräftor inte mat. De är ett roligt spel.

Igår kväll satt vi tillsammans i ett stort rum på Göteborgs Nation. Gardinerna stängdes och det fanns levande ljus. Det var ganska mörkt. Det fanns massor av kräftor på bordet. Vi hämtade kräftor och åt dem. Vi drack mycket öl och snaps och sjöng många studentsånger. Men det var svårt att äter kräftor. Det smakade ganska bra men det fanns också bra ost och knäckbröd som var bättre så jag åt det istället. Jag åt bara ett halv dussin kräftor därför att de var för besvärliga.

Senare hade vi druckit för mycket och då stod vi på stolarna och när vi sjöng. Sedan sjöng vi högre. Men sångerna var inte melodiska. Egentligen fanns det allt ingen melodi. Därför kunde man inte lära sig melodin.

I slutet var vi ganska fulla. Det är konstigt därför att Svensk smaker liksom myggorkiss, som vi säger i England, och snaps smaker som medicin. Usch! Men i alla fall hade vi en rolig tid.

Men gourmetmat var det inte. Jag skull hellre har åt fisk och chips. Och jag skulle hellre titta på kräftor i akvarium än på tallrik.

THE CRAYFISH PARTY

Crayfish look like a small lobster. They have two claws and hundreds of legs. The Swedes eat them in August though I cannot imagine why. They contain almost nothing one can eat. There is a little bit of meat in the tail, about the size of one’s little toe, and there are two tiny bits in the claws. These tiny bits of meat have to be pulled out from the hard spiny shell, using fingers. It needs good eyesight and a bright light. And so crayfish are not food. They are a game.

We had a crayfish party last week. We were all sitting together at long tables in Göteborg Nation (a student union building). The curtains were drawn and the were candles on the tables. It was quite dark. There was a stack of crayfish on a table. We fetched the crayfish and ate them, drank lots of beer and snaps and song student songs. But it was hard to eat the crayfish. They tasted quite nice but the crispbread and cheese were better so I ate that instead. I only had a half-dozen crayfish because they were so troublesome.

Later on, too much had been drunk and then we stood on the chairs and sang. Then the singing got louder. But the singing was not melodic. In the end there was no melody at all. So nobody learnt the tunes, which I think is what they were meant to do.

At the end, a lot of people were really drunk. This is strange because the Swedish beer is gnats’ piss and the snaps tastes medicinal. Yuk. But all the same, we had a fun evening.

But gourmet food it was not. I would rather have had fish and chips. And I would rather have watched the crayfish in an aquarium than on my plate.

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