A Brief History of Lobsters and How They Became Seafood Royalty (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of lobster? ›

LOBSTER IN THE EARLY DAYS

More than likely, due to the overabundant population, lobsters were used first to feed prisoners and servants. Meanwhile, as we mentioned, lobsters were also used as fertilizer and fish bait by Native Americans. By 1700, it wasn't uncommon to see piles of lobsters (sometimes two feet high!)

Restaurants caught on, turning a cheap protein into an elegant-looking snack for fools who didn't know any better. And that in turn drove up demand, which drove up the price.

“Dirt-cheap because they were so copious, lobsters were routinely fed to prisoners, apprentices, slaves and children during the colonial era and beyond,” one such account reads. “Lobsters were considered the 'poor man's chicken' and primarily used for fertilizer or fed to prisoners and slaves,” another declares.

Perhaps the number one reason for rising lobster prices is that lobsters are much more in-demand than they were when they were more plentiful. Back when the lobsters were so over-populated that they washed up on shore, there were almost more of them than people knew what to do with.

The bits and pieces that people were associating with various other species actually belonged to a single group of early marine animals called anomalocardids — large sea creatures that are ancestors to all arthropods, a category of animals composed of everything from lobsters and crabs to scorpions and ants.

A researcher in animal behaviour recommends people kill their lobsters before cooking them, after extensive research suggests crustaceans can feel pain. Robert Elwood, professor emeritus of animal behaviour at Queen's University in Northern Ireland, has spent more than a decade researching the issue.

Monkfish is groundfish, meaning it swims and feeds along the bottom of the ocean. It's known to some as "the poor man's lobster" because of its firm, sweet, and delicious taste similar to lobster tails, and to some as "all mouth", because most of the fish is taken up by the head and most of the head is mouth.

However, you are more likely to get a foodborne illness from eating raw or undercooked lobster. Some of the most common disease-causing bacteria linked to improperly handled crustaceans — and raw seafood in general — are Vibrio species, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella species, and Shigella species ( 1 ).

Before the late 19th century, lobster was reserved for the bellies of criminals, the poor, and slaves, as these crustaceans would wash up on New England beaches by the heaps.

Why was lobster considered bad? ›

lobster was so abundant and detested that it was considered a “poor man's meal”, reserved for prisoners, apprentices, and enslaved people.

The current size limit was selected to allow lobsters to spawn 1-3 times before reaching legal size. Female lobsters grow slower than males because they put more energy into egg production. Poaching sub-legal sized lobsters has been identified as probably the greatest potential threat to the lobster stock.

They found that, on average, male European lobsters live to 31 years old, and females to 54. There were a few exceptions: one particularly long-lived female had was found to be 72 years old. Lobsters certainly do not live forever.

During the 1600s, American lobsters were dirt-cheap because they were so plentiful. Lobster became known as the "poor man's protein" among European settlers, and the shellfish was often served to imprisoned and enslaved people.

They buy claw and knuckle meat, while the tail meat, which is the most expensive part of the lobster, is typically snatched up by large food-service companies that sell it to spots like high-end hotels and luxury cruise ships.

Lobsters were considered the “poor man's chicken” and primarily used for fertilizer or fed to prisoners and slaves. Some indentures servants even revolted against being forced to eat the meat and the colony agreed that they would not be fed lobster meat more than three times a week.

In colonial days, lobsters were often cooked after they died, which may have been another reason the crustacean we know and love today was not nearly as appreciated or desired in past centuries. To eat them more than a few times a week was looked at as cruel and unusual punishment.

Most lobsters that you see in a grocery store or at a restaurant are at least 5-7 years old and weigh about 1-2 pounds. But lobsters can be much bigger and much older. They could live to be over 100 years old!

The first lobster was found by humans when the first humans hunted along the shores for food, as lobsters well predate humans.