When I see these cooking shows on Food Network and elsewhere, they are always hyper on de-veining shrimp. I suppose it's for appearances sake.
Right down the back of a shrimp is a minuscule black thread of shrimp intestine. Well, I've never known a Southern cook to devein shrimp. After watching a chef on PBS chop up fresh clams for a recipe, I saw the clam gut sac was chopped up and used right along with everything else. Ditto with oysters.
No chef takes time to clean out the oyster gullet. In fact, it adds to the taste of the oyster. Oh Boy, a plate of oysters dipped in cornmeal and fried makes my mouth water to think of it, oyster guts and all.

Another thing that the TV chefs do that makes me cringe is to see them squeezing lemon juice through their fingers into a recipe to keep seeds out.
For Pete's sake, for a few dollars you can buy a lemon juicer that keeps the seeds contained and is much more sanitary and does a better job of it.
Speaking of sanitary, I saw on the news that a stomach virus that has caused sickness in a swath of states was caused by bagged salad (no brand name mentioned.) I used not to wash bagged salads, but will from now on.
(As you might surmise, I'm watching way too much TV these days!)
Love to everyone from susil