How does crab get on the table?

Although the consumption of crustaceans is nowadays considered more of a gentleman’s luxury, in the past they were much more frequent guests on the tables. Their popularity was also due to the fact that, thanks to cold-blooded animals, their consumption was also allowed during the fasting period before Easter, so they were considered an important source of protein.
However, Marasztony’s painting probably does not refer to fasting with expensive lobster and oysters, and the common people ate not so much sea crabs as river crabs. It was the “”cancer plague”” (a fungal infection brought in from America) that appeared at the turn of the 20th century that put an end to the fishing.
In addition, overfishing and the environmental pollution associated with industrialization also dealt a blow to the stock, so today the native river crayfish are not considered inedible, but is considered a protected species.

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