# Peel-and-eat shrimp: What's the point?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peel-and-eat-shrimp-whats-the-point/1016439>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** food-cooking\
**Created:** [April 1, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peel-and-eat-shrimp-whats-the-point/1016439 "2025-04-01T02:36:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 29

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peel-and-eat-shrimp-whats-the-point/1016439/29 "2025-04-02T12:52:45Z")

</div>

> [@hogarth](#):
>
> I like Chinese salt and pepper shrimp where the shell is fried enough that it just becomes a part of the crunchy coating.

Ha, I was going to post about how I heard Neil DeGrasse Tyson say once that he liked to eat shrimp with the shells on, but I wanted to google it to get my facts straight, and look what I found. Looks like both the OP and I have been carapace-challenged for awhile now (I made a few posts in this thread I hardly remember):

> [@Shrimp shells...when do you eat them?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrimp-shells-when-do-you-eat-them/948040):
>
> I have seen it said that in some shrimp dishes you can/should eat the shells. What dishes are those? Seems madness to me. In my mind, shrimp shells are up there with eating finger nails. Is this ever a worthwhile thing to do or just peel the shrimp and enjoy? Is there a way to know if you are meant to eat the shells in your shrimp dish without being told?

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peel-and-eat-shrimp-whats-the-point/1016439)._