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The Maryland Blue Crab is a beautiful creature, and a true symbol of the Chesapeake Bay watershed culture in the beautiful state from which it gets its name. These little critters are my personal favorite kind of American food. You have fritters and stews and steamers and softshells, the possibilities for culinary pleasure are too numerous. You can have your ground up chunk of cow, I'd rather my hamburger bun have 8 crunchy, little legs and two big claws sticking out the sides!

The best aspect of the MD Blue Crab, is the atmosphere it creates come feasting time. It is never a small gathering. Picnic tables are squashed together and lined with newspaper. Paper towels, melted butter, wooden hammers, knives, small bowls of water (my grandmother likes to keep her hands clean, a noble task) and the big yellow tins of Old Bay seasoning dot the dining plains in great clusters. Family members and friends come together despite how time or distance may separate them. They share beer, stories and laughter. Then the big announcement comes and everyone rushes to find their spot on a bench.

And that glorious moment comes, when the big, wooden bushel basket is overturned. Steaming crabs cascade across the table. Hands are darting in to pick out the biggest their eyes can see. Large chunks of seasoning sticking hotly to the bright red carapaces are brushed away (or eaten whole on a dare) as the time-honored practice of crab picking begins. Down the table, a grandparent is showing a young child how one takes the legs off just right to get a large blossom of that sweet, delicate meat. A sister is glancing at her sibling's garbage pile, looking to see where some of the prize was neglected to be retrieved. An uncle is laughing boisterously as he pretends a crab has pinched his nose. The noise will die down, and the sounds of cracking shells and the occasional thumping of a wooden hammer will echo across the summer evening.

Yeah, you can keep your burger. I'd rather work for my meal, and enjoy every minute spent in the company of those I love and care about the most.

Learn more about this author, Katie Better.
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