You might have heard that Virginia’s Governor, Terry McAuliffe, has been talking smack about our Maryland crabs.

“You know, Maryland talks about its crabs. If anyone from Maryland is listening, I want to make this perfectly clear. All the crabs are born here in Virginia and they end up, because of the current, being taken [to Maryland]. So really, they should be Virginia crabs.”

-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe

I’ve got one thing to say to you, Governor:

Oh no you di-in’t!

A lot of people have fact-checked this statement already, including Politifact and The Baltimore Sun, so I won’t bother with all the sciencey details about how crabs mate, lay eggs, and migrate.

I will say that the Governor’s correct that our crabs are conceived and hatched in Virginia’s saltier Chesapeake Bay waters. But then they smell that Zatarain’s crab boil and scramble their little larvae butts up to the land of Old Bay.

You want a piece of our crabs, Virginia? Do you even know how to cook a crab? Let’s head on down to Richmond for some boiled crab! said no one ever. (At least no one with any sense.) That meaty crustacean gave its life to be somebody’s dinner. The least you could do is steam it with some Old Bay, son! Continue reading →