Out with holiday crab. In with Crabuary!

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Come November, the handwringing begins. Just as San Francisco families start planning their Thanksgiving dinners — nostalgically recalling the days when Dungeness crab was the star and turkey didn’t have a chance — so begins a modern tale of disappointment. 

The crab season in San Francisco has been delayed — yet again. Wah wah. The state wants to avoid seeing migrating whales getting caught in crab lines (though there’s fierce debate (opens in new tab) over whether those concerns are overblown). Meanwhile, members of the small San Francisco fishing community are caught in the crosshairs of politics and environmentalism, watching their livelihoods slip away (opens in new tab). 

“We’re going on eight or nine years since we’ve had holiday crab,” says Brand Little; through his Little Fish Company (opens in new tab), he sells his catch at more than two dozen Bay Area farmers markets. “The kids who grew up having it are now adults, and that tradition is gone. It’s been so long, the public’s quit expecting it. Losing that demand is dangerous for the industry.”

When the season doesn’t open in November, local crabbers miss the one time of year when people are celebrating, visiting, and spending big on blowout meals: the holiday parties, the corporate banquets, the family splurges. This is when seafood sales peak. By January — the month the commercial crab season has opened for the past three years — the Christmas lights have dimmed, the credit cards have cooled, and the appetite for luxury has faded.

Chef Gordon Drysdale of Scoma’s at Fisherman’s Wharf has had to get used to dealing with sad crab lovers. “We’re in the business of making people happy,” he says. “So telling diners with a fistful of money that they can’t have local crab — it’s painful, both financially for our business and emotionally.” 

Can’t we just get crab from Washington or Oregon, where the season continues to open ahead of the holidays? Sure — but it’s not the same. The price for out-of-state crab is staggering, and the quality suffers. Adrian Hoffman, founder of the wholesaler Four Star Seafood and Provisions and owner of the seafood market and cafe Billingsgate, is selling Washington crab right now for $19 a pound. But if you’re cooking for the holidays, you’ll want at least a two-and-a-half-pounder, which means paying about $50 per crab. “Plus, they’re not as good as when they’re local,” he says. “The fill — the meat-to-shell ratio — is less than ideal. Down here, the fill’s beautiful right at the start of the season.”

Hoffman explains that crustaceans kept in tanks lose the complexity that gives them flavor. They stop eating, they burn through their energy, and the meat gets bland. Ideally, you want them straight from the ocean, still carrying the terroir of the sea inside them.

But perhaps the bigger issue is a moral one. Not buying local is like having a long-distance affair: It may satisfy in the moment, but it’s cheating on the people who built this place’s identity. The fishermen and the restaurants — they all depend on our loyalty as much as our appetite.

So, hear me out. Maybe our loyalty just needs a new season.

Here’s my modest proposal: Until whale migration habits change or the technology to harvest crabs becomes whale-safe (there are ideas! (opens in new tab)), let’s stop expecting Dungeness for the holidays and start saving room for it in the new year. The ocean doesn’t run on our calendar, and the sooner we accept that, the better chance our fisheries have to survive.

So, move over, Dry January — let’s be honest, everyone’s sober enough these days — it’s time for a new cold-weather celebration. Picture every restaurant in town throwing a crab feed. And at home, family and friends hosting dinners with heaps of cracked crab, bibs, butter, cold white wine — the kind of feasts that makes what is normally a dreary month shine. 

Out with holiday crab. In with Crabuary.