“I love shrimp—cocktail shrimp, shrimp-fried rice, anything that deals with shrimp.” Photo: Melissa Hom

What is it with Black people (excluding the Hebrews, Muslims and vege's like me) and shrimp?! It's like a universal negro signifier for eating good. My mother couldn't get enough of it, jumbo prawns in particular (the Jamie Foxx/Mike Epps movie Bait quite hilariously incorporated jumbo prawns into it's plot), until her high blood pressure proscribed it and if we take as evidence all the songs mentioning of "lobster 'n shrimp" and/or "steak n shrimp," hip hop's got a serious taste for it. Mims joins the chorus over at New York's Grub Street.