10 Μαϊου

The humble shrimp is one of the world's most favoured seafoods and rated shrimp-ly the best seafood in the US with each American said to consume over 4lbs of shrimps every year.

With over 2,000 different varieties, shrimp are a firm favourite all over the world and on a global scale we get through over 9 billion lbs per year. The most common types you're likely to find are the Pink, White, Rock and Tiger shrimps. Brits call them prawns, Americans call them shrimps and although we're all referring to the same creature, they are actually different types of crustacean with the prawn being larger than a shrimp and only residing in freshwater.

We've been eating shrimp for thousands of years and there are countless ways to enjoy them with famous dishes such as the seafood cocktail and scampi, but they can also be boiled, fried and barbequed just to name a few. Commonly referred to as the 'fruit of the sea', the flesh of a shrimp is packed with nutrients, high levels of protein and Omega 3 fatty acids, and that only begins to cover their many health benefits.

Fun fact: Shrimps typically move backwards and are protandrous hermaphrodites which means they are all born male before eventually they become female over the course of their life.

We don't suggest using shrimp as a cocktail ingredient, not unless you're making a seafood cocktail, but instead recommend the Seabreeze which represents both the home of the beloved shrimp and its pink, ready-to-eat colour.

Anniversary of Mandela's inauguration

On the 9th May 1994, the newly elected South African parliament - the country's first-ever democratic government - picked Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president. He was inaugurated the next day - this very day in 1994.

It was the culmination of an amazing journey for an amazing man. Raised in a palace, Mandela was the only black African student in his law school then trained in the military in Morocco and Ethiopia. He spent 27 years in prison on terrorism charges, walked to freedom in his 60s, and then helped to peacefully dismantle the apartheid system he'd fought so hard against.

Mandela's speeches and writing survive him, as does the work he did for South Africa- and his foundation's projects on HIV and AIDS. Most households now have electricity; many more African students graduate from university than during the apartheid era; and the nation was the first country in Africa to legalise same-sex marriages.

We are toasting the great man, who passed away 5th December 2013, with a classic El Presidente, or you may consider a Mr President, created by Andy Pearson - for Barack Obama, more appropriate.