Lobster's social status is very important now. Most lobsters are in the middle of a high-end meal. If it is anthropomorphic, it may be a big brother who drives an SUV, wears a gold chain and has a tattoo of crew cut.
For us ordinary people, this guy is not cheap, and it is a bit "not in the three realms, jumping out of the five elements" in the food industry. When you open a menu, every dish is clearly priced, except lobster and several hard seafood dishes marked with "current price". If you can put a lobster on your dinner table tonight, you must be distressed and happy. But before 100 years ago, lobster, an inferior food, could never be served on the table unless your family was almost unable to open the pot.
Back then, white immigrants who had just arrived in Massachusetts by boat lived in poverty. Without food, they walk through the lobsters washed on the beach by the sea every day ... to dig Guanyin soil to eat. Although this Guanyin soil tastes like glutinous rice after being mixed with water, it is soil after all, and people can't digest it if they eat too much. These white immigrants, who can't shit, still can't let go of their value and resolutely don't eat lobster. Why? Because at that time, lobsters were food for slaves and prisoners.
Another 400 years ago, an official named William severely humiliated the new white indentured slave (17- 18 century) in the British North American colonies. Commonly known as "white slaves." ), holding a big lobster, he looked at Bai Nu contemptuously and said, "I'm sorry, we are hard here, so you can only eat lobster and drink cold water."
This lobster insult had a very bad influence, which completely ignited the anger of new immigrants and led to a large-scale riot. The colonial government had to introduce a rule that indentured slaves should not eat lobster more than three times a week.
In old English, spider wrote "Loppe" and Lobster's "lobster" came from this word. It is regarded as the lowest living thing in the ocean, just like small insects on land. So at that time, the Yankees would never eat it unless they had to. Even if they did, they would not be seen, and they often cried after eating, feeling how they got along so badly.
/kloc-in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, some processing plants thought that since it was edible and low in cost, it was better to make it into cans. So, at that time, the cheaper canned beans were 50 cents a catty, while this canned lobster meat was only 1 1 cent, and it was all for cats. At that time, there were also big lobsters on the market, but they were all dead.
The story of lobster is a bit like the hairy crabs in the Republic of China. They all went from being penniless to being covered with steel seals on their shells, each with an anti-counterfeiting ring.
Different from hairy crabs, there is a legendary story about the gorgeous turn of big lobsters. Just now, as we said, lobsters are flooding like a disaster, and only slaves and prisoners will eat them. The local cannery in Maine can it for cats. At that time, Boston lobsters weighing less than 5 kg were defective products, but the development of industry led to a decrease in the number of large lobsters, and later smaller lobsters met the production standards.
Industrial progress has led to a smaller selection of lobsters, but it has not affected the supply and raised the value of lobsters. But after the development of the railway, things began to get interesting. The conductor found that mainland passengers had never seen this thing. If this thing was described as delicious, wouldn't it be a way to make money by selling it to them in the car?
Simple mainland passengers, after eating this garbage by seaside people in the car, were full of praise. They not only liked this seafood, but also gave it to their relatives and friends on the spot. In this way, lobsters in the sea entered thousands of households along the land railway. /kloc-in 0/880, the chefs found that the lobster had to be eaten fresh, so just like today, all the lobsters seen in the restaurant at that time were alive.
Although Americans ate lobster as a salad after cooking at that time, the demand did increase greatly, and the price increase was logical.
In 2006, the writer Motherjones wrote this passage in her article:
? "1920, the price of lobster reached its peak. The economic crisis made people unable to afford it, so the lobster market went into decline again. Canned lobsters have become inferior goods again, and they are supplied to soldiers to supplement their protein. 1944, American soldiers ate canned lobster and fought the Germans. Because of the war, lobsters have a chance to breed and breathe. Although the recovery of American economy has gradually restored the price of lobsters, it has not escaped the fate of inferior goods. During the Great Depression, poor people in Maine had to go fishing for lobsters, and the children brought lobster sandwiches the next morning. Going to school will also be laughed at by classmates. "
During the second world war, the grain harvest was poor, and only lobsters were not rationed. Unexpectedly, the Americans not only didn't feel miserable, but finally ate the true meaning of lobster. /kloc-in the 1950s, lobsters had changed from "sea cockroaches" to "lobsters". It's the fashion for Hollywood stars to eat lobsters, and large families have to have a big lobster at their wedding banquets. Even john davison rockefeller, the first billionaire in the 19th century, invited everyone to eat lobsters.
Forbes. com once published the list of "America's richest people in history 15", and john rockefeller finally topped the list. Interested students can go and see his life.
Today, going to the seaside for a holiday and eating a lobster, eight out of ten people have to start a circle of friends. For ordinary people from eight to five, there is nothing worse than this. But there are still people who scoff at lobster, and orthodox Jews also think lobster is unclean and refuse to eat it. But Americans have long forgotten how they disliked lobsters. We have to thank the "bad" chefs on the train, but also the local tycoons who don't know that lobster is "garbage". Otherwise, how can we find this delicious Boston lobster?
Although I can't afford it.