To refuse to eat un deveined prawns

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Yes is very first world but I just can't. On holiday and in many places they are not deveined. Is it that bad for you? Am I overreacting and should just eat them? My family eat them but I just can't face it.

All those grossed out by eating it - you're eating a whole animal? I don't get that. I've never understood why people are happy to eat certain arts of an animal but not others

Well this is a thing I didn't even know existed!
I love prawns but I never knew they had a tube in them!

But surely if you order a plate of shell on prawns, they can't be deveined in advance?

And I am not fannying about with my food any more than deshelling a prawn requires already. Shell it, scoff it, simple.

well, lamb tongue is delicious but I would not go anywhere near the eyes. Kidney and livers can also be very tasty, but tripes are disgusting and brain taste spongy and yucky. No logic in this, but there you go!

I find it gan have a gritty texture that I don't like, but IIRC it isn;t harmful?

On the trawler boats I worked on we would pluck scampi straight off the belts, stick them in a cup of boiling water for a few seconds and then eat them.

There's absolutely no health risk with eating the tract.

I don't think it'd hurt you to eat them, but I'm with you - the idea of eating them makes me feel icky so I always remove them myself if the restaurant hasn't. Use a knife to carefully slit halfway in (as if you were butterflying them) and you can remove the whole thing in one go.

Its a sand vein not a poop chute.
It contains sediment with plankton and algae No poo

I never even knew this was a thing until fairly recently. As a kid, my dad used to get a massive bag of prawns from the fishmonger and he'd cook them and me and him would sit and peel and eat them all.

Having said that, I can't eat them like that anymore I really dislike the texture. YANBU to not eat something you don't want.

I would definitely remove it, it's like a long string and definitely poo which should be removed before serving!

lazycrazymary Its not poo !

In some countries it's a delicacy.

A woman on come dine with me scraped it all out the prawns she was going to serve then ate the lot. So gross.

And o wouldn't eat any part of the prawn it's like eating insects no thanks!

Prawny poop chute.

What a joyful place this is.

I believe prawns have an intestine that runs down the back and a nerve column than runs the same length of the prawn but on the inside. There are a trillion posts on the internet where some poor soul asks about the inner vein and get back a stock response referring to the intestine.

The king prawns you buy uncooked in shops may well have both left in. I understand you don't see the intestine down the back (which is the worst of the two) as farmed king prawns (and they virtually all are) are left without food before being harvested and the tract is cleaned of grit so it is clear translucent tube. The nervous system vein you can always see.

You can eat them with both in if the intestine is clear. If the intestine is not clear then you can still eat it but it can spoil the taste - its got the refinement of serving roast chicken with bits of feather left in.

You can cut the back and take out the translucent tube if it is still in there if you don't like the idea of eating it. If you are really picky like me you can also cut the nervous vein out although it is very laboured process. When I am doing this I also cut out the end of the tract which can appear as an organ at the very end of the tail - hold the raw prawn to the light and you can see it.

Lots of chefs have videos on preparing prawns. TBH they are not buying packets of peeled raw king prawns like the rest of us do and if they were being helpful they would go to Tesco, buy a pack and have videos of preparing those.

Finally I always try and buy King Prawns farmed in Ecuador rather than Thailand or Vietnam. I have it in mind the farms in Ecuador are much cleaner but I have no evidence of this other than an article about the state of Thai prawn farms I once read.

If I notice the vein I'll scrape it out but I don't go looking for it if the prawns are in a sauce or whatever.

Although a guy at work has just said it's not a poo chute, it's their spine.....
Prawns don't have a spine, they have an exoskeleton.

I never knew this was a thing. Here fresh prawns are served complete in their shells and you have to peel them. That's enough work for me without extracting veins.

Thanks for all the responses. Sorry but didn't see any notifications after my last post.

Great to know I'm not alone (and I do think it alters the taste). But to those that eat it I don't think you are gross

I lived in Spain and it's not common practice to remove it, especially as a lot of seafood is very often served still in its shell.

It won't harm you to eat it and may people have no problem with it but if you don't like it then you have the option to remove it.

I know they don't have a spine

I love prawns but would never order them in a restaurant for this reason.
I only eat prawns that I've prepared myself.
I cringe watching Come Dine With Me when people don't de poo their prawns.