Bun Lai, a chef who has advocated for invasive-crab consumption for more than 20 years, stood in a food-preparation zone that he calls his “lab,” checking on small crabs in a dehydrator. A print of Picasso’s “Don Quixote” hung on a wall. Lai’s lab is one part of Miya’s in the Woods, a private embassy from the world of sustainable sustenance in a meadow in the oak forest of Woodbridge, Conn. It is the latest physical iteration of a food ethos formerly embodied in Miya’s Sushi, a restaurant in New Haven, now closed, that held a vanguard position in bringing invasive species to patrons. The grounds contain stands of wild invasive plants, an outdoor kitchen and dining area and a personal bistro for Lai’s guests.
Lai is not strictly an invasivore, as consumers of nonnative species sometimes call themselves. But he insists that targeted eating of certain invasive species can relieve pressures on ecosystems and be healthier than many store-bought meal choices — with the potential, he says, “to be environmentally regenerative, unlike our current food system, which is often destructive.” As long as 20 years ago, Miya’s Sushi offered European green crabs and Asian shore crabs on its menus, as well as silver carp, lionfish, mugwort, Japanese knotweed and other nonnative species the Lai family considers fine-dining ingredients that supermarkets overlook. Nowadays, with the same species, Bun and his sister, Mie, host dinners as forage-to-feast food diplomacy, with Bun as chief gatherer, supervisory cook and, not least, knowing ambassador from the world of sustainable sustenance.
All this was on display at an invasive-crab supper last year. Lai froze a sack of live European green crabs provided by Harvey Cataldo, an oyster-farming friend of mine in Rhode Island who traps crabs to protect juvenile oyster stock, along with a haul of Asian shore crabs caught by volunteers scouring the shoreline of Long Island Sound. The organization Parks leads, GreenCrab.org, promotes recipes that center European green crabs, including spicy curry green crab, Furlong bisque, green-crab-tomato soup and green-crab scampi. Lai has his own dishes to add, from appetizers to desserts. He pitched the results boldly, suggesting in essence that whatever their origins, invasive crabs are now local and merit a place on tables. “European green crabs and Asian shore crabs belong in the pantheon of New England coastal ingredients,” he said, “standing proudly alongside lobsters, oysters, clams, mussels, haddock and cod.”