Weren't lobsters like that? I remember reading somewhere that only poor people ate them sometime ago, beaches would sometimes get flooded with lobsters
Iirc that's mostly because they spoiled so quickly. That's part of why it was inhumane to feed them to prisoners (the other part was they just ground up the entire lobster).
In fact, many religious food restrictions are based on foods that could easily make you sick, like pork.
I think it also had to do with the fact that they're bottom feeders, as most fish spoil fairly quickly without proper care (though some are definitely worse than others - I think shark starts going bad literally as soon as the shark dies).
Like your second point, many bottom feeders are more likely to have parasites and, therefore, probably built up a reputation as being unfit for eating (though lobsters don't have any parasites that I'm aware of).
Someone told me they don't eat pork because the pigs were at the bottom of the ark and and ate the shit of all the other animals and that is since then canon for me, because it's one of the funniest reasons to not eat pork
My great grandmother grew up rough during the depression and lived near enough you could fish for lobster.
Her family would bury the lobster shells instead of putting them in the trash because they were ashamed the trash collectors might see they were eating sea bugs.
She still definitely enjoyed lobster. When it was in season it was tradition to have a family reunion for lobster dinner, and she boiled a mean sea bug. But she never could fathom even going to a restaurant to order a lobster - and that some people thought it was fancy would make her head explode
Lobster shells really should go back in the sea. Recycle that calcium (?).
I chunk many of my shells in the tiny ponds around the house (not too many though, they only range from 15 to 70 gallons). Calcium dissolves back into the water and tiny animals get a free meal, bolstering the bottom of the food chain.
Also used to throw a shell or three in my fish tanks so the snails could pull dissolved calcium.
Iirc lobsters can become much much larger than the ones we eat which are lil babies (comparatively speaking). The 2 or so lb lobsters we see are like 5yo but lobsters can live to be 100+ and 15lbs or sumsuch. Maybe the old crotchety ones folks ate back didn't taste as good?
same with quinoa, price went up so much that people started cultivating it outside of its native south America and then the price plummeted so bad that it caused financial devastation among farmers
Pineapples were also a sign of wealth.
There was a time when people would rent a pineapple to just sit on the table at a party.
Have you watched the new Time Bandits show on Apple TV? It's based on the old movie. There's a whole episode where they fall into a 1700s French socialite party where the Earl of Sandwich--or whatever his name is--has rented a pineapple in order to have a pineapple viewing party. The episode was one of the funniest ones this season, highly recommend it.
I only saw the first episode, it was ok but it felt too childish for my taste.
It definitely improves from there since pilots have to spend time introducing the world, characters, etc. But yeah, if you don't like British/New Zealand style humor, particularly that which pays much homage to Monty Python and Terry Gilliam movies, then it won't be appealing.
Making a note for later...
Oysters are, indeed, vastly unappealing as food; however, they're not trash - they're excellent water filters.
Correct, it’s the garbage they store inside their flesh that’s the trash!
Imagine opening up a water filter and giving all that goodness inside a good taste
"Yeah. I really do want a big salty lugee in my mouth" ~ Oyster Enjoyers
For real, that big salty lugee is great! Did you know they're actually alive when you eat them? They also don't have pain receptors IIRC so they're a very ethical source of protein. - actual oyster enjoyer
ethical
You eat them alive
🤔
Lol I'm not a fan of seafood but I've always found it unnerving that they have eyes
so do potatoes
And babies.
I am not a big fan of raw oysters, but if you bake them in the oven with breadcrumbs, cheese and a sauce, they are delicious
I mean.... The bread, cheese and sauce is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.... Using those 3 you can almost throw anything else in there and it'll be decent.
I heard a thing in NYC was the immigrants could look for work, and if they didn't find anything they could go to the shore, get enough oysters to survive, and keep going.
So common, NYC streets were often paved with a mix of oyster shells.
That must've been giving off a wonderful aroma. Especially combined with the cholera squirts of the era and ever present urine stank
Local oyster place chunked the shells outside, covered the parking lot in fact. Attracted quite a feral cat population, but it didn't stink.
Also, I think you're confusing modern "stink" vs. 1800s NYC "stink".
Oysters never tasted good to me. The whole GoT plot in season 7 with the Oyster selling girl stalking people throughout the city, and into a brothel never made sense to me... Who buys oysters, as a impulse snack? Crazy
They used to be a really common snack for rich and poor in coastal areas.
The modern equivalent would be a rolling hot dog stand.
Except even more practical and simple to produce/distribute in that ... its a coastal town with a good deal of fishing and aquaculture and whatnot going on.
Arya would just have to go to the docks, find somebody with a huge bag of oysters and say hey, gimme a cart, i'll go roam around and sell these before they spoil, you keep 80 or 90% of the money when i come back with the empty cart.
In that sense its basically a farmers market: extremely local goods.
Modern hot dogs have to be manufactured in a factory and then sold to a hot dog stand operator, shipped halfway across the country or world.
hey, gimme a cart, i'll go roam around and sell these before they spoil, you keep 80 or 90% of the money when i come back with the empty cart.
Tell you what: I'll give you a time traveling device and the ability to jump into any fictional world that has ever existed.
Find me one where they would accept that "deal" if you didn't pay up front.
Into the brothel makes sense because they have been considered an aphrodisiac.
Also also lobster and chicken wings.
Granted lobster was considered poor person food because it spoils fast, and in the days of no refrigerators that was a big deal.
I've read that the prison food method of lobster preparation was just grinding up a shitload of whole animals. Maybe heads cut off. So it was lobster meat, organ, and shell slurry. Lobster is good but I don't want that.
I still cry for good ten cent wings back in the early nineties :(
In the 1970s, then-president of Mexico Luis Echeverría visited the remote fishing village of Huatulco, slated for touristic development soon after that.
The people of the village prepared a dinner for the president, in an apologetic tone for being so humble and poor, all they had to offer him was lobster.
I like oysters, but like... 4 per week is fine. If it was staple food for me, I'd cry myself asleep every night.
And lobster.
To be fair, both of those are delicious. That said, I haven't had caviar itself (too expensive), but I've had plenty of other fish-egg products, and it's fantastic as a sushi topper or in a salad or something. I also love lobster, crab, and other "weird" foods from the bottom of the ocean.
Maybe I'm trashy, idk.
King Louis XIV loved oysters and was importing them from the coast to his palace in Versailles.
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