With its rich, sweet meat and status as a luxury food today, it may be hard to believe that lobster was once seen as a low-class food fed to slaves and servants. But how true is this perception of lobster’s history? Let’s dive into the evidence behind the idea that lobster was once deemed only worthy enough to be slave food.
Lobster’s Humble Origins
While considered a delicacy today, lobster was indeed viewed as a cheap, bottom-feeding sea creature in Colonial America. Lobsters crawled in abundance along the rocky shores of New England. People could easily gather them by hand along the coastline to supplement their diets.
With lobsters so readily available the general public did not value them as a limited resource. Their meat was tough and sometimes inedible. Therefore, lobster was an inexpensive source of sustenance that was associated with low social classes who had few other options.
Feeding Slaves and Servants
There are accounts that lobster was commonly fed to indentured servants, slaves, apprentices and children in well-off Colonial households.
One reason for this was its low cost and ready availability near major cities like Boston. Undesirable food was considered acceptable to serve to enslaved household workers. Lobster was plentiful enough that some sources claim servants could eat it every day.
However, there is no evidence of colonial laws dictating how often lobster could be fed to slaves or servants. Some modern myths suggest laws limited lobster to twice a week for these groups. Historians have debunked this claim, indicating a lack of legal protection from lobster’s ubiquity.
Prison Food Myth
Another pervasive myth is that jailed prisoners were fed lobster so often they grew sick of it. However, historians find no records of colonial era prisons serving lobster to inmates.
Prisons likely lacked both the resources and incentive to feed lobsters to prisoners daily. And coastal prisons would have had easier access to lobster compared to inland facilities. So while the idea underscores lobster’s past cheapness, it is not factually accurate.
Native American History
The history of lobster extends back before European settlement to Native American tribes of the Atlantic coast. Indigenous peoples likely consumed lobster first and began using them as fertilizer and fishing bait.
Some tribes used lobsters in the time-honored New England tradition of clambakes. They covered lobsters in seaweed and baked them on hot rocks to steam open the shells. This method inspired modern clambake cooking techniques still popular today.
Gradual Rise in Popularity
In the late 1800s, lobster started gaining favor among wealthier urban diners in Boston and New York City. Specialized fishing boats were developed to transport live lobsters from Maine and Canada to these coastal metropolitan markets.
As demand grew, so did efforts to fish lobsters commercially. Prices began to rise, though lobster was still affordable for average consumers through the early 20th century. Its association with the upper class solidified around the time of World War II.
Modern Reputation for Luxury
Today’s enduring repution for lobster as an indulgent, special occasion food took over a century to cultivate. Its high price and global trade obscures its past role as a common food of marginalized groups in Colonial America.
While lobster may have been deemed slave food centuries ago, that perception evolved with supply, demand and culinary preferences. The tasty crustacean is now rightfully recognized as the delicacy it is regardless of long ago prejudices.
So while lobster wasn’t legally dictated as slave food per se, its abundance and low value did relegate it as a food for servants, slaves and other lower classes in early America. Lobster has come a long way from those humble beginnings to become a world-famous gourmet treat.
Native Americans used lobsters in their both fishing and agriculture.
American Indians of the Eastern seaboard used lobsters to fertilize their crops and bait their fishing hooks. They also ate the crustaceans that were easy to find. To get them ready, they put seaweed over them and baked them over hot rocks. According to tradition, this cooking method inspired the classic New England clambake.
Lobsters collection has evolved over time.
At first, lobsters were gathered by hand along the shoreline. In Maine in the late 1700s, special boats called smacks were used to transport live lobsters. Their tanks had holes in them so that seawater could flow through them. The workers who operated these shellfish-friendly vessels were known as smackmen. Lobster trapping, which started in Maine and became more popular in the middle of the 1800s, was first used to catch the animals. In 1875, a tidal creek in Vinalhaven, Maine, became the site of the first lobster “pound.” A “pound” is a roped-off cove or tank where fresh lobster are kept in the water until they are sold. The town is still home to a thriving lobster fishery.
LOBSTER was once slave and prison food; NOW A DELICACY?
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.
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 was lobster a poor man’s meal?
These hard-shelled creatures were even used as fertilizer and fish bait cause there were just so many around. Lobster was also known as the poor man’s meal because the overabundance of these guys made it easy for people with no money to get their protein. In fact, these crustaceans were fed to prisoners, apprentices and slaves.
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.