From Invasive Species to Culinary Opportunity: Green Crabs and the Cambodian Community"
Tapping into the Rich Cambodian Market Beyond Maine.
When you listen to communities of color, new markets, relationships, and opportunities open up.
As Director of Multicultural Markets and Strategies, I have been interviewing multicultural communities on food systems and seafood. The Cambodian community is critical to Maine’s seafood present and future. The average Maine resident consumes sixteen pounds of seafood, and the average Cambodian consumes ninety-three pounds of seafood. In my listening sessions, I discovered elderly Cambodian women eat green crabs which is an invasive species that affects our ecosystem including our oyster, lobster, and clams. Maine green crabs are harvested for their soft shells and hard-shell green crabs are composted for a fee.
I was fortunate to attend the Cambodian New Year celebration in Maine. Working with Greencrabs.org an organization that raises awareness on this invasive species, Mary Parks a leader in the organization called over thirty harvesters in Maine to harvest green crabs. All the harvesters said no. They all said that it is too early to catch green crabs and that there is no demand for them.
Sam and Mike of Southern Maine Sustainable Shellfish were skeptical but said yes. They were happy to take my money and was curious to see who would want hard shell green crabs. I ordered 1250lbs of green crabs to give to the Cambodian community because I had heard from the community that they purchase green crabs year-round in Lowell, Massachusetts which is home to 30,000 Cambodians and greater Lowell is home to almost 50,000 Cambodians.
Our tent at the Cambodian New Year was two stalls away from Barber Foods which was giving away 5lb bags of chicken. They had about 300lbs of chicken. We gave away all 1250lbs of green crabs in less than 3 hours and in the same time Barber Foods gave away about half their chicken.
Sam and Mike were amazed. They were unaware of the Cambodian community in Maine and they were shocked at the demand for green crabs. Moreover, they were approached by several elderly women who wanted to purchase 100lb tubs of green crabs and they happily exchanged information.
I encouraged Sam and Mike to come back to the Buddhist Temple and sell their other products: lobster, clams, oysters. I connected them with the president of the temple and many elders in the community. I also encouraged them to find connections to Lowell, Massachusetts so that Maine can sell seafood to the 50,000 plus Cambodians who live and visit the many ethnic grocery stores there. Selling seafood to 50,000 Cambodians is the equivalent to selling seafood to 300,000 Mainers.
When you listen to people of color you can find connections, relationships, and opportunities. It all starts with listening.
As luck would have it, the very last bag of green crabs was given to the gentleman holding the yellow umbrella. He spent the day holding the umbrella for Maine’s Governor Mills and as soon as his duties were done, he headed over to our tent.