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How the Lobster went from poor man's food to rich man's delicacy:
Lobster was once considered poor man's food and was even used as fish bait.

When the European settlers first came to North America, lobsters were plentiful, and often washed up on the shore making piles up to two feet high.

Since there were so many and they were easy to harvest, lobsters were eaten often by poor families living near the coast. The disregard for lobster slowly diminished over the years, and the poor man's food soon became the rich man's delicacy.

By the 1840's, commercial fisheries were in operating in Maine, catering to a public that couldn't get enough of these crustaceans. Shipments were sent all over the world making the Maine lobsters famous. Land transportation made it possible to send lobsters inland, reaching Chicago in 1842. Soon most major cities had lobster palaces, where diners showed off their wealth by the number of lobsters consumed at a sitting.

And that's how it happened that the lobster went from poor man's lunch to rich man's dinner.

Learn more about this author, Susan Nagy.
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