Ever walk through a subway station and find yourself gripped with a sudden, irrepressible desire for live crab? A company in China has you covered.
Twin Lakes Crab Co., based in Gaoshun County roughly an hour-and-a-half drive south of the southern Chinese city of Nanjing, recently unveiled what appears to be the world’s first live crab vending machine.
The machine, installed in the Nanjing subway and first reported in English by Shanghaiist (see Chinese report here), sells crabs at prices ranging from 15 to 50 yuan, or roughly two to seven dollars, depending on size. The crustaceans in question are hairy crabs, a regional specialty treasured throughout China and elsewhere for their roe. And since no one would dare eat hairy crab without ginger-infused vinegar, the bottom shelf offers bottles of that as well.
Not surprisingly, the machine has caught the interest of Japanese media, with one Japanese TV station producing a video that details how it all works
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Wall Street Journal.