Although shrimp and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda, they are very similar in appearance and the terms are often used interchangeably in commercial farming and wild fisheries.

[3] In the United Kingdom, the word "prawn" is more common on menus than "shrimp"; the opposite is the case in North America.

Australia and some other Commonwealth nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word "prawn" almost exclusively.

When Australian comedian Paul Hogan used the phrase, "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you" in an American television advertisement,[4] it was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.

[5] The Jewish dietary laws, kashrut forbid the eating of shellfish, including shrimp.

[10] Preparing shrimp for consumption usually involves removing the head, shell, tail, and "sand vein".

Common methods of preparation include baking, boiling, frying, grilling and barbequing.

In Europe, shrimp is very popular, forming a necessary ingredient in Spanish paella de marisco, Italian cacciucco, Portuguese caldeirada and many other seafood dishes.

In the subject of Japanese sushi, shrimp has long been valued as the "king of sushi-dane", as its composition can be either raw or cooked, and its latter preparation has often been considered a good introduction or choice for those unfamiliar to eating sushi, especially dishes involving raw fish.

Most shrimp are sold frozen and marketed based on their categorization of presentation, grading, colour and uniformity.

There is a growing food fraud concern in Asia–Pacific where non-food grade gels are injected into shrimp and prawns to increase their weight and visual appeal.

[20][21] In 2022, Cambodia seized 7 tons of shrimp that had been injected with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) gel.