Lobster from Fertilizer to Gourmet Food
Growing up Irish south of Boston I heard about how the poor Irish immigrants would go out after the storms and bring home lobsters for dinner. So I wondered how did this poor man’s dish get to be a gourmet item?
In colonial times lobster was used by the local Indians as fertilizer. Later the colonists gathered them from tidal pools and their lobsters were made into dinner for the household children, servants and the prisoners of the local jails.
Lobsters were gathered by hand along the shorelines until the mid 1800s. Demand began to increase and small boats known as ‘smacks’ would go out and trap the lobster bringing them back to the canneries popping up along the Maine coastline. Much like tuna is today, lobster in 1936 was a cheap, canned high protein food for the masses. Canneries wouldn’t even buy lobsters under 5 pounds.
The BBC has a diary excerpt that describes an 1860s English dinner menu: fricassee of rabbits and chicken; leg of mutton boiled; three carps in a dish; a great dish of lamb; a dish of roasted pigeons; a dish of four lobsters; three tarts; a most rare lamprey pie; a dish of anchovies … That’s quite the meal. And not likely intended for the lower classes.
In the 1860s over fishing began to affect the canneries. 5 lb lobsters were no longer coming in off the boats and the limit was lowered to 2 pounds. By the early 1900s bringing lobster sandwiches to school was the norm for the poor children.
Rumor has it that in 1910 John D Rockefeller Sr brought lobsters to gourmet status. The story is that a bowl of lobster stew meant for the servants table was sent to Rockefeller’s table by mistake. It was rapturously received and added to the daily menu for the family. In New York society in 1910 what was good enough for the Rockefellers was good enough for everyone.
During WWII lobsters were considered a delicacy and therefore not rationed. Quite a climb in social status since 1900. After WWII the boys came home from the war and America enjoyed spending its new found wealth on many things, lobster included.
Since the 1950s lobster per person consumption has gone from half a pound per person to one pound per person. The price has rapidly increased and fishermen have trouble bringing home lobsters over the one pound limit. Soon lobster will join much rarer dishes as trapping limits become tighter and the scarcity of lobster further increases the price.
