Tales of the unexpected

One of the London food scene’s most interesting characters, Bob Ring, aka CRAYFISH BOB, is a one man shellfish whirlwind, dedicated to ridding the Thames of invasive American Signal crayfish. His aim is to undo the environmental mess made by a decision in the 1970s to introduce American Signal crayfish to the UK, to be farmed (primarily for export to Scandinavia). The bottom fell out of the market, Bob explains, the stocks were abandoned and crayfish escaped into waterways, and all but wiped out our native species, damaging other aquatic life in the process. Bob sells young crayfish ‘smalls’ before they can wreak too much havoc.