New Englanders love lobster. It has been a part of the food culture of the area for up to 2,000 years, since the Penobscot and Wabanaki people first cooked lobster in the area.
Sometime between then and now, the thickly carapaced bottom dweller earned a reputation as the most sophisticated shellfish. It doesn’t look delicious — it looks like a prehistoric underwater cockroach. But when cooked properly, lobster meat tastes sweet and tender and perfectly rich. Add some drawn butter to the equation? Yum.
But many historians and bloggers have said over the years that the top-shelf crustacean used to be so common and lowly that it was only served to the poor, servants, and prisoners.
“Because there were so many of them, prisoners, apprentices, slaves, and children were often fed lobsters during the colonial era and after,” one account says.
Another says, “Lobsters were thought of as the ‘poor man’s chicken’ and were mostly used for fertilizer or to feed prisoners and slaves.”
Upon closer inspection, these (referenceless) reports sound a bit far-fetched. If you agree that lobster used to be easier to find and cheaper, it’s still hard to cook and takes a lot of work. Boston. com asked a few experts for their take on the local legend.
“Who the hell is going to pick all the meat off the lobster to make enough for a prison full of people?” asked Sandy Oliver, a food historian and writer from Isleboro, Maine.
Lobster is now seen as a luxury food, often served at high-end restaurants and enjoyed by the upper class. But it wasn’t always this way. Lobster actually has a fascinating history, going from literal trash and prison food to being more valuable than beef.
As an avid food lover and lobster fan myself, I was intrigued to learn about the humble origins of this crustacean delicacy. In this article, I’ll walk you through the history of lobster and how it transformed over time into the expensive, sought-after seafood it is today.
Lobster Was Once Considered Worthless Trash
It’s hard to believe now, but lobster was originally seen as a worthless bottom-feeder. When European colonists first arrived in North America, lobster was incredibly abundant along the coastline. Lobsters often washed up on shore or could be easily caught by hand along the beaches.
Because of their sheer abundance, lobsters were not prized as food Rather, they were disdained for their resemblance to giant insects. Early American colonists in Massachusetts used lobsters as fertilizer and fish bait They were not interested in eating them.
The aversion to eating lobster continued for over a century. There are even accounts of servants in early America bargaining to not be served lobster more than twice a week, since they despised it so much. Lobster was also commonly fed to pigs, considered appropriate food for animals but not for people.
Lobster Became Associated with Poverty and Prisons
As the American colonies became more established lobster continued to have a reputation as a low-class food. Thanks to the massive lobster population along the Northeastern seaboard, lobster became associated with poverty in the region.
The large lobster catches allowed even the poorest families to easily access the sea creature for meals. Since the upper class tended to avoid foods eaten by the poor, they turned up their noses at lobster.
Lobster also became common fare for prisoners in the 18th and 19th centuries. Prisons near the New England coastline served lobster to inmates frequently because of its low cost and availability.
While some claim that servants or prisoners rebelled against eating lobster too frequently, the evidence for any actual laws limiting lobster consumption is scarce. Whether or not laws existed, the fact remains that the plentiful lobster was fed to society’s lowest classes at the time.
How Did Lobster Become a Delicacy?
Lobster’s reputation started to shift in the mid-1800s, thanks to new canning and transportation technologies. As railways connected further inland areas to the coasts, fresh seafood could be shipped across the country. Live lobsters were put in barrels with seaweed and packed in ice for transport to inland cities.
At the same time, canned lobster allowed it to be preserved and sold widely to places without easy access to fresh lobster. By 1876, a million pounds of canned lobster was being produced and sold annually in Maine. Lobster salad had also become a popular dish, introduced at fine hotels.
As more people outside New England tried lobster and enjoyed its sweet, savory flavor, demand started rising. Fancy hotels featured lobster, giving it an air of exclusivity. Live lobster also became a popular delicacy for wealthy diners in coastal cities like Boston and New York.
Its association with the upper class turned lobster into a high-status food and symbol of leisure. Sportsmen would go on expensive lobster fishing trips for recreation. As demand and prices rose, lobster was transformed from cheap food for the poor into a luxury item.
Lobster Fishing Becomes a Major Industry
By the late 1800s, lobster had become a dining treat and prices were rising. Lobster fishermen started developing new techniques, like lobster traps, to catch more efficiently. Regulations were also enacted in coastal Maine to restrict harvesting and avoid overfishing the population.
These conservation efforts allowed the lobster fishing industry to thrive. Lobster populations recovered while trucks, airplanes, and new freezing techniques allowed for national distribution. Maine lobster had been established as the benchmark of quality, giving the industry a marketing edge.
The thriving coastal trade turned lobster fishing into a major livelihood in New England. Demand skyrocketed again in the late 20th century as airline shipping expanded lobster’s global reach. Overseas markets like China and Europe embraced Maine and Canadian lobsters as a luxury.
While other fish populations have declined, strict conservation practices have kept lobster numbers stable. Combined with the perception of lobster as an indulgence, prices have steadily climbed. From trash food to treasure, the value of lobster has profoundly transformed.
The Luxury of Lobster Today
From a food so worthless it was used to fertilize fields, lobster is now a coveted gourmet item and priced that way too. On average, lobster costs over $12 a pound at grocery stores. Restaurant lobster entrees range from $20 to $60.
Lobster is seen as a romantic, celebratory food. Indulging in lobster is a special treat saved for vacations, weddings, or milestone occasions by most non-millionaires. The switch from bottom-feeder to top-of-the-food-chain is remarkable.
For coastal Maine lobstermen able to catch their own inventory, lobster is still affordable. But for most Americans, ordering a lobster dish at a nice restaurant has become a luxury expense. The story of how humble lobster turned into a delicacy is truly fascinating.
So next time you crack open a lobster tail or dip buttered lobster meat into broth, take a moment to appreciate its long history. Those buttery chunks on your plate were once practically worthless to Americans. But over time, lobster transformed into one of the most coveted seafood delicacies in the world.
What did colonial prisoners eat?
Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald have written a number of books and essays together about the history of American food. These include “America’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking” (2015) and “Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England.” ”.
While researching for these books, the husband and wife from Rhode Island came across the story of lobster being used as prison food, but they couldn’t find any historical evidence to back it up. In an email to Boston. com, they explained what they were — and weren’t — able to prove.
Stavely and Fitzgerald said that New England prisoners might have been fed lobster once in a while “if they were imprisoned near the coast where lobsters were plentiful.” This is because “lobsters were a valued but not a luxury food until the 20th century.” But lobster was never the prisoners’ steady diet. ”.
It was found that after the first European colonists came to New England in the 1600s, most prisoners were fed simple, cheap food like salt pork, baked beans, salt cod, brown bread, and maybe hardtack, which is a dense cracker that lasts a long time.
“These were the cheap, calorie-dense, easily preserved and easily prepared foods of the region,” Stavely and Fitzgerald wrote. “Cabbage was the most common vegetable, and potatoes would have been served by the 19th century. ”.
Lobster, on the other hand, was “difficult to transport (if they died en route they were not fit to eat), difficult to prepare (they needed big kettles, which is why many city shoppers brought them home already cooked), and there was the problem of getting rid of huge amounts of shells.” ”.
Oliver, the historian from Maine, did her own research and couldn’t find any records from the 17th or 18th centuries that said prisoners in New England ate lobster. And when the story did materialize in town histories later on, it wasn’t even initially about lobster.
“The punchline … is that the story was never told about lobster until the 20th century,” she explained. “The story about salmon in the 1800s was told with almost the same language, characters, setting, and everything else.” And it wasn’t true about salmon either!”.
Was lobster always so popular?
In 1623, during a period of food scarcity in Plymouth Colony (in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts), the colonial governor William Bradford wrote an oft-cited letter complaining that the “best dish” the settlers could prepare was “a lobster or a piece of fish without bread [or] anything else but a cup of fair spring water.”
According to historians, this fact led them to believe that lobster was cheap food back then. They say, though, that Bradford’s comment “has overshadowed the real evaluation of lobster in the early days.” ”.
There are other accounts that are more balanced. For example, Edward Winslow, who wrote from Plymouth Colony to England in 1621, said, “Our Bay is full of Lobsters all the Summer.” ’” Stavely and Fitzgerald wrote. After a few years, Francis Higginson bragged in Salem, Massachusetts, that “the least Boy in the Plantation may both catch and eat what he will” of lobsters. ”.
He did say that he “was soon cloyed with them,” but that was only because “they were so great, fat, and luscious.” ”.
From the 18th century onward, lobster’s social caché only grew. Lobster meat began showing up in stews, in sauces, and to enhance the flavor of fish dishes. Potted lobster and lobster pie appeared in 19th-century recipe books.
“The amount of people wanting lobster was definitely going up in the 1800s,” Stavely and Fitzgerald wrote. This made lobster valuable for sale. By then, lobster could be shipped from Maine to Boston, New York, and other East Coast commercial centers. It arrived alive and could be sold and cooked fresh. “Even though this shellfish was still pretty cheap, it wasn’t looked down upon as poor man’s food,” they wrote.
Fast forward to the present day. Centuries of lobster hype have depleted the populations along New England’s coast. Climate change has compounded the problem, driving the remaining populations north in search of cooler temperatures. But lobster, whether boiled, baked, or served up on a roll, remains a regional staple with its very own mythology.
The stories we tell about our food, Oliver believes, reveal more about us than the food.
Oliver laughed. “The bottom line is that when something like salmon or lobster starts to get harder to find, stories start to come out about how stupid people were back then—they didn’t know what a great thing salmon or lobster was!” “It makes the people telling the story feel better about themselves, smarter, and more knowledgeable.” ”.
How Lobsters Went from Prison Food to The Most Expensive Meal
Did prisoners eat lobster?
Somehow, though, lobster got fancy. 1 Lobster Used To Be Prison Food? It is difficult to be certain about what American prisoners were fed in the 19th century and earlier but it is claimed, by some accounts, that lobsters were so plentiful they washed up on American shores in large numbers and thus were served to prisoners every single day.
Why was lobster considered a delicacy in WW2?
So by World War II, lobster was considered a delicacy and, as a result, what was once a poor man’s food became only affordable for them richer peeps. How lobster went from a poor man’s food to food for the elite.
Why did colonial people eat lobster?
Lobster became a common colonial-era source of food for those considered at the time to be lower-class, including apprentices, servants, slaves and, yes, prisoners.
Do death row prisoners eat lobster?
Lobster, it turns out, is one of the most common last-meal requests among death row prisoners – which is strange when you consider an old story from Maine: in the early days of the colonies, jailers were forced to limit the amount of lobster they could feed their prisoners.