Soon you may no longer be eating this shellfish in restaurants.
A small shellfish much loved by gourmets is under threat, and is even beginning to disappear from some restaurant menus that once made it their specialty. Here's why.
If you're planning to spend the end of summer in Italy, or more precisely in the Venice region, you may be disappointed to miss out on one of the local specialties.be disappointed to miss out on one of the local specialties based on small shellfish. As you may have guessed, it's "spaghetti alle vongole", a typical recipe made with pasta and clams. Venice restaurants have been forced to remove this delicacy from their menus, and for a disturbing reason.
Crab in pasta instead of clams
While many tourists flock to Italy for its scenic beauty, its gastronomy is not to be outdone. But this summer, the spaghetti alle vongole is missing in action. The culprit? The blue crab, which has come from America to settle in the Mediterranean. In the Po delta, they devour clams, leaving fishermen with nothing but empty shells. "I don't know what's going to happen in the future. Over the last few months, things have gotten out of hand. The lagoon is becoming a desert", worries clam farmer Gianluca Travaglia to France Info, especially as the blue crab has no predator.
To counter this phenomenon, fishermen are being encouraged by the government to catch more blue crabs, renowned for their delicious meat. Some Italian chefs have even started using blue crabs in their dishes to replace clams. The crustacean could also be exported to the United States, its country of origin, where it is much appreciated by consumers.
