Shrimp and prawn are important types of seafood that are consumed worldwide. In biological terms, shrimp and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda. However they are very similar in appearance and in commercial farming and fisheries, the terms are often used interchangeably. However, recent aquaculture literature increasingly uses the term “prawn” only for the freshwater forms of palaemonids and “shrimp” for the marine penaeids. Preparing shrimp for consumption usually involves removing the head, shell, tail, and “sand vein”. To de-shell a shrimp, the tail is held while gently removing the shell around the body. The tail can be detached completely at this point, or left attached for presentation purposes. Removing the “sand vein” (a euphemism for the digestive tract) is referred to as “deveining”. The sand vein can be removed by making a shallow cut lengthwise down the outer curve of the shrimp’s body, allowing the dark ribbon-like digestive tract to be removed with a pointed utensil.

Shrimp and prawns are versatile ingredients, and are often used as an accompaniment to fried rice. Methods include baking, boiling, frying, grilling and barbequing

Recipes using shrimp form part of the cuisine of many cultures. Strictly speaking, dishes containing scampi should be made from the Norway lobster, a shrimp-like crustacean more closely related to the lobster than shrimp. Scampi is often called the “Dublin Bay prawn”, and in some places it is quite common for other prawns to be used instead. Wet shrimp is commonly used as a flavouring and as a soup base in Asian cuisines while fried shrimp is popular in North America

In India, a spicy seafood dish made from fish or prawns in a dark red and fiery tangy sauce. Balchão is almost like pickling and can be made days in advance without reheating. The traditional balchão uses a paste made from dried shrimp known as galmbo in Konkani.Many people leave out the dried shrimp paste as this lends a fairly strong fishy flavour to the dish. Is often bottled and can be eaten as a side dish.