Atlantic Canada lobster's 'rags to riches' tale detailed in new book
Rachel Ward | CBC News | Posted: June 12, 2016 7:03 PM | Last Updated: June 12, 2016
Author Denise Adams digs into Atlantic Canada's favourite dinner and 'cultural emblem'
Atlantic Canada's lobster has had a "rags to riches" journey, now being honoured in a new book For the Love of Lobster.
Many have heard how the now popular crustacean was long the poor kid's lunch, but Nova Scotia author Denise Adams decided to dig into exactly how that happened.
"This is the lobster capital of the world, and I felt Atlantic coastal lobsters deserve a book from Atlantic Canada," Adams told CBC's Weekend Mornings.
The rise of the live lobster
Refrigeration made the biggest difference in moving lobster out of lunch pails and onto dinner plates.
A lobster has to be live when cooked, so normally, the meat was canned.
"They break down very quickly once they've died," Adams said. "It's just not appetizing, this green dead thing."
Adams traced the tradition of cooking one's own live lobster back to a man near New York, who fed his dinner guests a boiled lobster, much like is eaten now.
"They had so much fun cracking it open; it was just a real novelty," she said. "From that point on, those that could afford it, could have live lobster put on ice and shipped to these big cities in the United States."
Eventually, hungry Americans had to look north to find enough lobster, she said.
'Cultural emblem'
Now, lobster landing on the wharves of Atlantic Canada are worth around $620 million annually, she said.
And the spin off benefits of tourism add even more.
"It really has become a cultural emblem," she said, pointing to iconic fishing villages and colourful shacks with decorative traps. "These are what tourists come to see."
Other wisdom and interesting facts from Adams' book:
- One-and-a-half pound lobster are indeed the best
- Cold water, fresh caught is most delicious
- Most humane to put lobsters in head first into a rolling boil
- It's unclear how old lobsters can get