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Food

Australians Are Literally Plundering Seafood Shops Over the Holidays

Christmas in Australia is an unconventional affair, usually trademarked by barbecued shrimp and pool floats. But as a result, some shops are being literally robbed for their precious seafood.
Photo via Flickr user Uwe Schwarzbach

Christmas in Australia is a dangerous time of year to deal in seafood. Aussies go wild for shellfish, particularly during the holidays, when it's traditional to—yes—throw some shrimp on the barbie. But shellfish can be expensive, and with wallets already stretched thin from gift-buying, sometimes it's more cost-effective to steal it and then sell it on the black market.

Triabunna Lobsters, a crayfish factory in Tasmania, found this out the hard way when it was robbed of $18,000 worth of live crayfish last week. While the loss was a first for Triabunna, seafood heists are certainly not uncommon in Australia.

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"People have been known to climb onto boats to steal catches," said David Whittaker, assistant manager at Triabunna. "It's gotten a lot worse in the last 12 months."

In 2006, 200 kilograms of prawns were stolen from a shop in New South Wales, also over Christmas, and it was the second year in a row that the shop's seafood had been plundered. Because Australians traditionally eat seafood over Christmas, December is a huge money-spinner for the fisheries industry, and Christmas week sales of seafood consistently draw in the biggest crowds. But some people want to get their spoils for free.

So why do we eat our body weight in ocean critters during the holiday season? Well, aside from the fact that seafood is delicious and affordable, it's also just heaps easier to serve up during the holidays than a leg of ham. This brings me to stereotype number two about Australians: that we're laid-back. We do like to lie on our back by the inflatable pool while the food cooks itself, so, in short, I guess we are a bunch of lazy bastards. Keep in mind that our Christmases usually average about 30 degrees Celsius (about 86 degrees Fahrenheit)—remember, it's summer here below the equator—and you can understand why most people are reluctant to turn on an oven.

For Brett, a fishmonger at Happy Tuna Seafoods in Melbourne, Christmas is without a doubt his busiest time of year. His three biggest sellers during this time are cooked prawns, crayfish, and Moreton Bay bugs, a.k.a. flathead lobsters. All of them require minimal prep work and are usually grilled on a barbecue, or, in the case of the prawns, served cold.

"Cooked prawns seem to be really popular because everything's cooked for you and away you go," Brett says. "Our own tradition at home is to have seafood for dinner."

Garen, chef and owner of Melbourne restaurant Sezar, says seafood is an easy, light, and refreshing option for pavement-melting summers.

"The thing with good seafood is that when you've got a quality product, it speaks for itself." His restaurant puts a festive spin on the traditional Armenian manti, or dumpling, by stuffing it with spanner crab and topping it with chili oil. At home, he keeps it simple, finishing off seared scallops or fresh prawns with zaatar, or lemon and salt.

"I'm a big fan of zaatar, which is just dried mint, dried thyme, a little bit of sesame seed, a bit of cumin and oil," he says. "Marinating prawns with a bit of zaatar, chili pepper, and garlic is delicious." Lacking the main ingredient for a white Christmas—snow—has pushed Australians to adopt the cold seafood platter as our unofficial Christmas culinary tradition. Don't get us wrong, some of us still insist on serving up all manner of roast meats, but for many, there's less incentive to sweat it out in the kitchen when you can just pack some cold prawns into an esky and head outside for a round of family cricket. We'll be sure to spare a thought to all the northerners basting their turkey this Christmas day. Then we'll get back to lazing about, feeding each other prawn cocktails on the beach.