Devouring the Invaders: The Racial‐Ecological Politics of the Chinese Crayfish Trade in Kenya

ABSTRACT This article examines entanglements of ecology, race, and foodways at Lake Naivasha in Kenya. Nonnative Louisiana red swamp crayfish ( Procambarus clarkii ), first introduced to Kenya in the 1960s, were once viewed as invasive but are now sought after as a delicacy among Kenya's Chinese community. The arrival of Chinese workers, mostly in the 2010s to work on infrastructure megaprojects under China's Belt and Road Initiative, has had lasting impacts on local foodways in Kenya and other African countries. These changes have inflamed racial tensions, resonating with longstanding stereotypes about Chinese exploitation of animals, and resulting in discriminatory anti‐Chinese fishing bans in Naivasha. Meanwhile, an underground crayfish industry has spread to remote reservoirs and streams, evading official recordkeeping and further contributing to racialized resentment. In tracing this precarious supply chain, this article argues that culinary taste and foodways, particularly in the case of invasive species, should be central to understanding both racial discourse and ecosystem dynamics. Neither indisputably invasive nor conclusively benevolent, crayfish in Kenya draw attention to the inextricability of human politics and culture from nonhuman ecosystems, while highlighting the ultimate futility of regulatory control over the world around us.