Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/10/these-videos-demonstrate-how-fake-crab-sticks-hotdogs-of-the-sea-are-made.html
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I don’t know. After watching that first video, I’d say that term is pretty appropriate. The process isn’t that different from how Oscar Mayer hot dogs are made.
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These are not Fake crab sticks, these are real crab sticks, fake crab sticks would be made of plastic or something for display - and they probably exist.
The trick is to notice that if you want to claim a “fake something” that something has to exist in some real form.
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Well they’re damn sure not made from real crab, so what would you like us to call them? Because you can get actual crab sticks made from actual crab meat.
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My sister worked in a surimi plant in Alaska in the '80s. The paste will take on almost any flavor. They made chocolate chip cookie flavored stix one day. Weird texture for a cookie, but apparently the taste was spot on.
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How about Imitation crab meat.
I’m going to start making fake imitation crab meat, made from real crab of course.
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I love watching How It’s Made but the food factories usually makes me cringe and not want to buy the food because of all the unmasked ungloved workers that handle everything including the final packaging.
But this factory gives me hope, everyone was wearing proper protective gear and it looked really clean.
Not sure if I’d eat the product because I’m not fond of crab meat in general but I did like the factory.
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I have a deep and abiding love of fake crab meat, especially in the crab-stick or nugget form. I despaired to learn, some time ago, that they are just loaded with carbohydrates, including quite a bit of sugar, and have only a pittance of protein in them. Bit of a bait-and-switch if you’re trying to find a nice variation on meat products to use to fill up on protein and avoid carbs.
There might be some brands out there that have a more favorable nutritional profile, but not at my grocery store. 
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How is it different from fish cake you get with ramen?
I love surimi seafood. If you ever travel to Japan you will find it in so many forms. One of my favorite ways to eat surimi is in hot pot dishes with lots of veggies. Surimi seafood also has a crazy low carbon footprint.
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Yes, that’s Oden, a watery Japanese stew, containing several types of kamaboko fish paste cakes. They are also eaten as part of the traditional New Year O-sechi breakfast, in the national colours of red and white.
Here in the UK, seafood sticks can be bought in any supermarket. You have to go to a Japanese specialist food shop to get other kinds of kamaboko.
I think like any processed food it’s okay to eat occasionally but not all the time.
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Such an array of mixers and blenders.
I was in awe as the paste was pulled into a sheet and later rolled lengthwise into a continuous rod.
Different taste
The good thing about it is that people who are allergic to crab can eat it. That bad thing about it is that people who are allergic to crab do not know if a dish contains crab or just its approximation.
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Imitation is the sincerest form of crabmeat.
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I have no problem determining if the crab is real or imitation. Retroactively. I get the 48-hour purge starting ~4 hours after ingesting the real stuff. Opens up the sluices at both ends, as the saying goes.
My brother, 10 months younger than me (yes, mom & dad got frisky soon after my arrival) gets the swollen neck/can’t breathe reaction. He caries an epipen it’s so bad.
Oddly, neither of us were allergic to shellfish until we matured. With maternal grandparents in PEI, we ate many a clam, mussel, scallop and even some lobster as kids. But one summer when I was 14, he 13, we had clams for supper. He ended up in the hospital. I just coated the inside of our tent with clams. 
Good times!
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