STANDARDIZING THE TASTE OF TRADITION: MARYLAND CRAB CAKES FROM THAILAND By Kelly Feltault Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Anthropology Chair: __{3--"-!Uft__::_-=--~-·--· _:.__:___ __ _ Dr. Brett Williams w~ ~a> Dr. · Broad 2009 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 AMERICAN UNIVERSin' LIBRARY l\'4 2,5 UMI Number: 3357495 Copyright 2009 by Feltault, Kelly All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3357495 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 481 06-1346 ©COPYRIGHT by Kelly F eltault 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DEDICATION To my husband, who only eats crab claws. STANDARDIZING THE TASTE OF TRADITION: MARYLAND CRAB CAKES FROM THAILAND BY Kelly Feltault ABSTRACT Blue crabs are the main ingredient in Maryland crab cakes, a regional food symbolizing the Chesapeake and Maryland's state identity. As the taste of Maryland, crab cakes invoke authenticity through the Bay's maritime culture and rural coastal communities. However, since 1997 almost eighty percent of the crabmeat consumed in the US has been imported from countries like Thailand, and Maryland crab cakes have become a standardized, mass produced menu item served in restaurants across the US. By 2008, blue crab stocks in the Chesapeake and Thailand faced collapse. Policy makers and much of the literature on fisheries would call this a tragedy of the commons while agro-food commodity chains literature has ignored seafood and bifurcated the food system into global and local foods. My dissertation recognizes blue crabs as simultaneously a politically and culturally meaningful food and a natural resource, and examines how Maryland crab cakes became an authenticity niche-a once regional food that continues to symbolize the place and food culture of its origins but is industrially produced for the mass market through our global food system. I argue that 11 transforming the Maryland crab cake into an authenticity niche was a form of accumulation by dispossession integral to neoliberal economic growth strategies in Maryland and Thailand. My research reveals how seafood corporations and states are creating value and accumulating capital closer to the point of consumption through two new commodities­ seafood quality and safety-and how these reshaped the meaning of Maryland crab cakes. For Maryland crab cakes quality is defined through the perceived traditional production practices of Chesapeake crabmeat companies and the symbolic image of Chesapeake watermen, as well as the physical attributes of crabmeat. Seafood safety means the global governance system HACCP-a science-based, risk assessment approach for preventing and controlling hazards throughout the production-consumption network. In this way, I highlight how states and firms collaborated to enclose, marketized, and commodify culture and nature, but also how such processes in two different locations became interconnected to create a global industry and new forms of power by remaking nature, people, and culture for the global market. 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the support and interest of many people who have been generous with their time, knowledge, and enthusiasm. Melissa McCloud of the Center for Chesapeake Studies at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and the crabmeat packers and pickers of the Eastern Shore have been part of this project since 1997 when it was a public history and rural development project. They spl:}fked my appreciation for the Bay, its communities, and history, and the Shore's crab pickers taught me how to pick crabs "properly" while also making sure I understood the complexity of the industry and their lives. My dissertation chair, Brett Williams, has read numerous drafts for which I am grateful, and always raised interesting questions alongside insightful feedback. Brett has also been a wonderful colleague and friend. The rest of my committee, Warren Belasco and Robin Broad, kept me creatively thinking across disciplines-no small task for a project that bridges food, fisheries, development, and heritage. This multi-disciplinary group showed great enthusiasm for the project and opened up new ways of thinking about food and the environment as the project progressed. Gabriella Petrick and the other attendees at the Hagley Conference in 2006 encouraged me to pursue the issue of taste and standardization while inspiring me with their own research. Fieldwork in Thailand was supported by a fellowship from the National Education Security Project for food and environmental security and a Foreign Language IV Area Studies grant to study Thai language at the Southeast Asia Summer Studies Institute (SEASSI) in Madison, Wisconsin. Patcharee Promsuwan and Patcharin Peyasantiwong of the Thai language program at SEASSI deserve much of the credit for taking my Thai language skills from zero to a 3.5 on the Foreign Service language test in just three months. My time in Madison was the best introduction to Thailand I could have asked for. In Thailand, I was a visiting researcher at Walailak University in the Regional Studies Department, which allowed me to live in Southern Thailand close to the crabmeat companies, but also gave me a chance to meet wonderful colleagues and students. I am grateful to Patrick Jory, head of the Regional Studies Department, and the University for the opportunity. My colleagues Amporn Mardent, Onanong Thippimol, and Saliza Binti Ismail were constant companions intellectually and emotionally. Our lunch conversations about race and religion in Thailand and Southeast Asia helped me expand my thinking about global food standards and social control, while also giving me a better understanding of Muslim culture and life in southern Thailand. I would not have been able to conduct fieldwork in Thailand without support from several company executives, chiefly Norman Whittington and Lloyd Byrd. I am grateful for their openness and willingness to let me "hang out" in their factories. During the writing process, the members of the ABD Writing Group-Michelle, Jodi, Maria, Adelaide, Barbara, Kelly, and Becca-always gave me honest, constructive feedback and were a wonderful sounding board for ideas as well as emotional support. Finally, my husband has endured periodic visits to hot field sites in the Chesapeake and Thailand, and long absences-even when I was home writing. He has been a constant v source of support, laughter, creativity-and lately music (he decided to learn the banjo while I was cloistered in my office writing). Hopefully this is the end of our single income status and the beginning of more bluegrass jams. Vl TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IV LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Xll LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS XIV Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION: THE STORY OF MARYLAND CRAB CAKES 1 One Big Kitchen Theorizing Authenticity Niches Telling the Story of Maryland Crab Cakes 2. THE NATURE OF SEAFOOD SAFETY 52 Food Standards: Quality and Safety Fish, Pure Food, and Mass Markets From National to Global Standards Summary 3. CHESAPEAKE: THE TASTE OF TRADITION 114 Producing the Taste of Tradition From Industry to Industrial Heritage Vll Summary 4. DESTINATIO NS: PHILLIPS AND BALTIMORE 160 Destinations: Seaside and City All-You-Can-Eat Redevelopment Betting on a Trip to Asia Summary 5. THAILAND: FROM CAT FOOD TO CRAB CAKE 193 The Fifth Tiger and Seafood Exports Beating the Jungle for Crabs Thai HACCP: Controlling People and Nature Summary 6. THAILAND: KITCHEN OF THE WORLD 244 The Sufficiency Economy: Crabs are Like Mice Race, Purity and HACCP Summary 7. THE TASTE OF TRADITION FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA 273 Marketing the Authenticity Niche, 1992-1999 Marketing the Legend of Phillips Summary 8. CONSUMING THE CHESAPEAKE 299 Stocks and Markets Waterman's World Vlll Summary 9. LABELS, AUTHENTICITY, AND TASTE 327 Designating Nature and Place Investigation No. TA-201: Crabmeat from Swimming Crabs Afterword 10. CONCLUSION 361 APPENDIX . 371 BIBLIOGRAPHY 386 IX LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. The Two Culture Problem of Risk Assessment 63 2. Environmental Contaminants of Seafood . 72 3. Biological, Microbiological and Physical Hazards of Seafood. 79 4. Location of Seafood Packing Plants in the United States, 1940 88 5. The Seven HACCP Principles 110 6. Sample of Maryland Crab Regulations, 1906-1958 126 7. Proposed FDA Crabmeat Standards, 1971. 134 8. Blue Crab Landings, 1950-1990 178 9. Value of Hard Crab Landings for Blue Crab, 1980-1995 180 10. Canned Crabmeat Exports, Thailand, 1986-1990 211 11. Thai Crabmeat Product Codes . 250 12. Product Comparison and Pricing Sheet Descriptions 280 13. Share of Distribution Sales oflmported Crabmeat, 1995-1999 287 14. Increasing Levels of Imported Crabmeat, 1994-1999 . 288 15. Volume and Value of Imported Crabmeat from Thailand, 1994-1999. 290 16. Dockside Prices for Domestic Hard Crabs, 1990-2000. 305 17. Domestic Crabmeat Production Levels, 1995-1998 306 x 18. Domestic Hard Crab Values, 1990-2000 306 19. Changes in Distribution Channels: Domestic Crabmeat, 1995-1999 308 20. Changes in Market Share: Domestic and Imported Crabmeat, 1993-1998 309 21. Changes in Value: Domestic and Imported Crabmeat, 1994-2002 . 309 22. Maryland Recreational Crabbing Regulations 319 23. Percent of Total Eastern Shore Acres Developed for Housing, 1990-1999 322 24. Growth Outside Preferred Areas Before and After Smart Growth Policies 323 Xl LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1.