DID YOU KNOW ? # 7

Did you know America spends over 700 million dollars on shrimp annually. We consume 725 million pounds of the little critters every year. That is almost half of the world’s commercial consumption. It is America’s favorite seafood.
Shrimp are a basic ingredient in oriental cooking. Beyond being eaten themselves, shrimp are used as a soup base, sauce thickener and general seasoning. Shrimp flakes are fed to tropical fish and used as feed pellets on aquaculture farms. Shrimp are even used in bandages by the U.S. Army in Iraq. It helps to stop bleeding and saves lives.
Over half of all the shrimp consumed in America comes from the Louisiana Gulf.

Now for the rest of the story.

The dried shrimp industry in Louisiana was started in 1895 by Filipinos. After harvesting tons of the little creatures from the Mississippi delta the shrimp were boiled in huge kettles of salt water. Later the boiled shrimp are spread on drying platforms. To remove the heads and hulls the workers would perform “dancing the shrimp”.
One of America’s major seafood industries was created by Filipinos.