>live sweet shrimp

Will I eat something on my plate which arrives at the table, um, still wiggling?

I will, and I have.

On our way to Sequoia National Park, we stopped for lunch at a sushi restaurant called MaRoo. (2075 W. Bullard Ave., Fresno, CA)

Apparently, Fresno is no culinary backwater.

The amaebi (ama "sweet" + ebi "shrimp") came with a severed, but still moving, head. I imagined the two pieces of sushi topped with orange tobiko to be still throbbing with life.

The unmistakably fresh flavor and texture of the sweet shrimp (often called spot prawn) sushi was almost enough to swear off 'dead seafood'.

Okay, I didn't eat the impressive garnish while it was still kicking - the shrimp head was destined to be returned to the kitchen to become crisp tempura.

And okay, I didn't eat the deep-fried head either. Since I was cautioned not to go around eating shrimp heads, I donated it to my dad, and it was savored with gusto.

>Botan ebi - large sweet shrimp, heads deep-fried, Benkay restaurant, 2 India St. Portland, ME

>Sweet shrimp ceviche - ginger yuzu marinated raw sweet shrimp with avocado mousse and fried taro chips, Japonais, 111 E. 18th Street, New York, NY

***
So, having no reply to give
To what the old man said,

I cried, "Come, tell me how you live!"
And thumped him on the head.

--Haddocks' Eyes, Lewis Carroll