#912 Lobster wasn’t always a luxury…

I remember once while in the Army in Wiesbaden, Germany I ran into my First Sergeant at the grocery store. He looked into my cart and saw a pair of lobster. “It is not pay day Specialist. You must be doing something right if you can afford lobster like that.”

Recently Brenna and I went to dinner for Seafood Night at M Casino and Resort Studio B buffet. For the price we were each allowed one lobster.

What makes lobster so special?

lobster meal

The clawed lobster comes from a family of large marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails, and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Lobsters are invertebrates with a hard protective exoskeleton. Like most other arthropods, lobsters must moult in order to grow leaving themselves vulnerable during the process during which as well, several species change color. A lobster has 10 walking legs; the front three pairs bear claws, the first of which are larger than the others. The lobster is an omnivore and typically eats live prey such as fish, mollusks, other crustaceans, worms, and some plant life. They scavenge if necessary, and are known to resort to cannibalism in captivity.

In North America, the American lobster did not become popular until the mid-19th century, when New Yorkers and Bostonians developed a taste for it. Prior to this time, lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society. Lobster was also commonly served in prisons, much to the displeasure of inmates. Back when the first European settlers reached North America, they wrote that lobsters were so plentiful that piles up to two feet high would wash ashore in Massachusetts Bay Colony and the colonists were embarrassed by these unsightly “cockroaches of the sea.” American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as fertilizer or fish bait by Native Americans and colonists alike and it was not until well into the twentieth century that it was viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food similar to SPAM.

lobster pool

Things changed during the mid-1800s thanks to two things — canned food and railway transportation. People living away from the coast could now buy cheap canned lobster which went on to become one of the most popular canned products on the market.

Due to this new demand, restaurants started serving the food throughout the country increasing the popularity of the lobster.

The funny thing about lobster is even when market prices are low, restaurants, buffets and food trucks still charge a premium on their lobster dishes just because people think of lobster as a hoity toity food item. Ironically, lobster is now a commonly requested food for prisoners receiving a last meal.

So what is it about lobster that makes me smile?

It is delicious. And I know the truth…and so do you.

lobster girl

Do you enjoy lobster? Let us know in the comments.

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