Every summer I try to have one lobster dinner. The last year we had lobster dinner we bought a bunch from the Swan's Island Co-op. This year I didn't get one in, but I did have a roll. I had one just before hauling our boat and leaving the coast for the winter.It's an absolute must and one I can afford once a year. Like the Greeks and Romans did, I still consider lobster a delicacy mostly because it is. I don't even use butter. And I always thank the lobster because I kind of feel guilty, but not all the way yet.
As all Mainers know, lobster wasn't always a high-priced delicacy. European settlers fished and ate the readily available and surplus of lobster off the New England coast, and used them for garden fertilizer and fish bait. Lobsters were consider trash food and a symbol of poverty, fed to prisoners and slaves. Servants, when possible, forced employers to sign contracts refusing to eat lobster more than a few times a week.
The advent of canning made lobster accessible to the rest of the country in the mid-1800s. Railroads shipped fresh lobster to urban areas in the early 1900s and chefs began featuring them as an exotic fish item on their menus. It even became a symbol of Guilded Age luxury and a staple of upscale restaurants. And so it remains.
My one sacrificial lobster dinner and lobster roll is my donation to Maine's fishing community. The rest goes to NPR these days.
My One Lobster Dinner • 8" x 8" acrylic framed to 12" x 12" • $300
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