We've given you lots of recipes that rely on crab meat, and for good reason. Crab is delicious and you can incorporate it into so many different kinds of dishes, making it useful for appetizers and main dishes alike. Crab is a versatile seafood, but it's also expensive. As with other luxury ingredients, if you could find a good substitute, you'd probably use that. FEATURES FOOD RECIPES HOMESTEAD LIFESTYLE HOME-COOKING imitation crab Sarah Ramsey What Exactly is Imitation Crab and Should You Eat It? SARAH RAMSEY POSTED OCTOBER 13, 2020 We've given you lots of recipes that rely on crab meat, and for good reason. Crab is delicious and you can incorporate it into so many different kinds of dishes, making it useful for appetizers and main dishes alike. Crab is a versatile seafood, but it's also expensive. As with other luxury ingredients, if you could find a good substitute, you'd probably use that. Fortunately, there is an alternative to expensive crab, but what is imitation crab exactly? Is it good, and is it good for you? Let's take an in-depth look at this mock seafood. Mock meats have been around a long time, although they're growing in popularity. Veggie burgers take the place of beef, and there are infamous soy-based products like Tofurkey. But imitation crab meat isn't technically a mock seafood, because the main ingredient is actually fish. Surimi, which is Japanese for "ground fish," is bits of fish blended together to form a paste. According to The Japan Times, "surimi has been used in Japan for over 800 years in the form of kamaboko, a kind of seafood log that can be produced in various shapes and colors, which is sliced and most commonly added to soups." The kamaboko is the precursor to the crab stick, which was invented by Katsuichi Osaki at the Osaki Suisan Company in 1974 in Kusatsu, Japan. Osaki added red food coloring to the crab stick and cut them into strips so that they would look more like crab legs. Crab sticks