I remember when lobster was cheap

N

nouraee57

New member
Back in 1872, I worked in a lumber camp in the British Columbia
interior. They fed us lobster every night. Finally the government
came to their senses and passed legislation which prevented the
feeding of lobsters to lumber men. Lobster at that time was thought
of as a kind of garbage sea food. I'm serious. OK, so maybe I wasn't
in the lumber camps, but some guys were back then.
Seriously, I remember reading an article about this a few years back.
It's unfortunate that I can't find a link.
 
On 4/7/2011 8:54 AM, Portland wrote:

2011-1872 = 139 and "you" were perhaps 18 years old and so at 157 are
the oldest man in the world. The preservative properties of lobster are
remarkable :-)


--


James Silverton, Potomac

I'm "not"
[email protected]
 
On 07/04/2011 9:01 AM, James Silverton wrote:

I am assuming that it was a typo and he meant 1972, though I have to
question that lobster was cheap at the time. I know that there were
problems with salmon being served too often in work camps on the west
coast in earlier times. Lobster is more od an east coast product. Out of
curiosity I did a little google search and found Vancouver that sell
Atlantic lobsters, no mention of Pacific lobster. I have been out there
several times and there was certainly nothing to suggest that lobster
was a local product, unlike their much hyped salmon, haddock and crabs.

I know that lobster used to be considered to be a very economical
seafood dish, but it was much earlier than 1972. In this part of Canada
lobster was expensive as far back as I can remember. In fact, lobster
was about the same price per pound t40 years ago as it is now.
 
"Portland" wrote in message
news:f9e86677-4833-4bca-8e67-ef3cdfed003c@m13g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...

You don't look a day over 100. Really. Lobster was considered poor
people's food up until around the Great Depression. Back in the antebellum
South lobster was fed to slaves. I don't recall lobster ever being cheap in
my lifetime.

Paul
 
On 4/7/2011 9:47 AM, Dave Smith wrote:

There are a number of apocryphal stories and urban legends about such
things. In the 16th century, the apprentices of the city of Glasgow,
Scotland got the town council to specify that salmon was not to be
served to apprentices more than twice a week. I'll admit that history
indicates that salmon were plentiful in Glasgow's River Clyde at that time.

--


James Silverton, Potomac

I'm "not"
[email protected]
 
On Apr 7, 7:54?am, Portland wrote:

I have heard that there was a group of indentured servants (slaves?)
who were being fed lobsters (considered garbage food of fishing nets)
that they finally petitioned successfully to only have to eat lobster
3 or 4 days a week.

John Kuthe...
 
On Apr 7, 8:54?am, Portland wrote:

I did see it cheap once.....in the 2 weeks following 9/11. We were
visiting in
NH at our daughters home, and they were practically begging you to buy
it.
There had been little air transportation and it was in overflowing
supply. We
ate it many times while there. But traveling by air, we didn't think
we could
get a bunch of it home with us. We saw it as low as $1.99/pound. I
wanted
to eat it 3 times a day. Nan in DE
 
On Thu, 7 Apr 2011 06:54:30 -0700, "Paul M. Cook"
wrote:


Along the northeastern coast of the U.S., the lobster was once so
common in the 17th and 18th centuries that it was considered a "junk"
food. When caught in great quantities or stranded on shore after
severe storms, lobsters served as garden fertilizer and as a food
staple given to widows, orphans, servants, and prisoners. It was so
commonly used as a food for servants and prisoners that Massachusetts
passed a law forbidding its use more than twice a week - - a daily
lobster dinner was considered cruel and unusual punishment!

From: http://www.lobsters.org/tlcbio/biology.html
 
Portland wrote:

Dear Wolverine from the X-Men - I love your comic books and movies.


Oh, never mind then. I love the comic books but you're not that guy.
What with that guy being fictional and all.


I've also read that during the time of early colonization from Europe
the immigrants fed lobsters to pigs because they wanted the pork not the
crustaceans. Crazy folks of times past.
 
On Thu, 7 Apr 2011 09:14:18 -0700, "Paul M. Cook"
wrote:


I don't dislike Lobster, but neither do I really like it. I like Blue
Crab meat MUCH more than Lobster.

Lobster would be a waste of money for me because it isn't really
something I would ever order off the menu.

Chesapeake Blue Crab used to be my favorite crustacean, but I've heard
so much about the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay now that I've quit
eating them from there.

Now I just buy them locally here in North Florida and love them. The
meat is sweet, rich and filling with a flavor that IMO, beats out
Lobster hands down!
 
Landon wrote:


If I'm in ME- it is lobster. If I'm near the Chesapeake Bay, I prefer
Blue Crab.

Since I'm landlocked in NY, I'll take Alaskan King for my
Crustacean-fix. . . . or some flash-frozen shrimp.

If I was in LA, I'd try crawfish again-- but once was enough in NY.

Eat whatever's local- eat whatever's freshest.

Jim
 
On Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:55:39 -0500, Omelet
wrote:


I love shrimp too! Blue Crab is my favorite for flavor. They are a
PITA to harvest the meat from though! My brother and I can clean them
as fast as we can eat them. It's kind of a no-nonsense meal. All work
and no chat! Crab parts flying everywhere! Num-Num-Num-uh
huh-Num-Num-uhhh?-Num-Num.... :)
 
Landon wrote:


I like them all-- but the best I ever ate was a Lobster/crab steam on
a beach in ME. We took a touristy lobster catching trip on a cold
rainy Sept. day. The fisherman was pretty chatty and after we had
already discussed that I was going to buy some lobster for a steam
that evening, he caught a couple blue crab in a trap and threw them
back in. I chuckled and told him what we paid for them in VA. From
then on he tossed them in my bucket with my lobsters.

Hard to tell who was grinning more when the boat docked-- me with my 2
buckets of claws and shells- or the Japanese tourists that were
getting all the urchins as they came up.

4 lobsters and about a dozen [free!] crabs that just left the ocean
hours before; a pound of butter and only two of us to eat them. Life
doesn't get much better than that.

Jim
 
Around 1959, we could pick up a lobster roll for a dollar. And I mean
chunks, not shredded stuff. A whole fried fish dinner went for
bucktwennyfive.

I can also remember oysters so plentiful, they were considered a poor
guy's food, and mussels on the beach? Who picked THOSE up? I wonder
what food we scoff at today which'll be tomorrow's desirable edible.
 
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