Imagine you decide to spend a little extra on lobster tails for an upcoming family gathering. Or you go to the supermarket or think about ordering lobster tails online, only to be shocked by the prices. Whether you live near the sea or hundreds of miles away, why are lobsters so expensive?
Lobster is considered a delicacy that can cost a fortune just for one meal. There are many reasons that make lobster an expensive meal. The lobster life cycle, over-harvesting, and food-safe technology have all contributed to an increase in lobster prices over the last few decades.
For more information and some interesting facts about the lobster tails you enjoy, continue reading.
How Expensive Is Lobster?
Lobster is a luxury and expensive item to buy. Depending on its weight, the price of the lobster you buy can vary. A two-pound lobster can cost you around 60 to 65 dollars.
A lobster dinner in a big city is one of the most expensive menu items, ranging from $30 to $45 for a 1-1/2-pound lobster. The cost can rise even higher depending on where and when someone dines.
Why Is Lobster Expensive?
Lobsters are expensive, and it’s because of several reasons. Here are some of them.
Growing And Harvesting Is Hard
The short answer is the lengthy amount of time required for lobsters to grow large enough to harvest. Lobsters require almost seven years to reach viability as a food source.
No fishing enterprise can afford to wait seven years for their investment to reach market size, and only weigh about one pound at that point. Minimum market-size lobsters measure less than four inches, far from the oversized crustacean one sees swimming in a tank at a swank restaurant.
Another thing that makes lobsters expensive is that they are difficult to catch. While lobsters are widely caught worldwide, they are difficult to catch, especially in bulk.
For this reason, these types of seafood are usually caught by hand, using special tools and skills. Thus, catching a lobster is truly labor-intensive, making them more expensive.
Decline In Harvest And Increase In Demand
Growing demand and diminishing lobster supplies during the emerging Industrial Revolution and New England’s urbanization transformed this seafood into a highly sought-after commodity.
Coastal Maine fishers now capture 83% of the lobster grown in American waters.
While spiny lobster can be found in Asian waters and off the coast of Florida, they lack the large claws that have made Maine lobster a popular delicacy in recent years.
Processing Costs
The most important and timely step of processing this lobster involves separating the meat from the shell.
If cooked before removing it from the shell, the meat often toughens after packaging and before it gets to your dinner table.
Lobster Is To Be Cooked Fresh
Lobster meat, unlike most seafood, does not freeze well. When frozen or cooked after it has died, lobster becomes rubbery and tough. The best way to enjoy lobster is when it is cooked alive.
Lobsters’ shell enclosures are home to a large number of bacteria. Lobsters spoil quickly after death, and the bacteria within them multiply. Soon after a lobster dies, an enzyme in its body begins to deteriorate the meaty flesh inside.
Take a look at this video to learn more as you read ahead:
How To Eat A Lobster
If the lobster is served whole, grab the tail with one hand and the body with the other. Twist them in opposite directions, like you’re wringing a towel, which will separate the tail. Then crush the sides of the tail with your hands.
There are five fins, called swimmerets, at the bottom. Pop out the middle one, and the whole chunk of tail meat will come out easily.
For the claws, use either a hammer or lobster cracker; break the claw’s shell until it cracks. Don’t be too aggressive, as you don’t want to damage the meat.
Tomalley is considered the most flavorful part of the lobster. Tomalley comes from the Carib word tumale, meaning a sauce of lobster liver.
It is also called crab fat, or lobster paste and is the soft, green substance found in the body cavity of lobsters that fulfils the functions of both the liver and the pancreas. Its flavor is basically the same as that of a lobster, just amped up a bit.
Those who do eat it will consume it with the rest of the lobster meat, or even reserve it to stir into soups and sauces.
The tail and claws are where the majority of the meat are located, but you can also find tiny bits of meat all throughout the lobster. You can suck the meat out of the end of the tail fins, for instance.
You can also get meat out of the knuckle, but I’ve never been able to get much from there. Avoid eating the shells, cartilage, and tail vein, as they’re not edible
Is Lobster Healthy?
Lobster is healthy for most diets, providing a good source of essential nutrients and protein. Lobster is a lean protein food; the quality of protein lobster offers may be equal to or better than that of milk, red meat, or soy.
With high amounts of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, it is great for the brain and circulatory system. It also contains vitamins and minerals needed for optimal health.
Fun Fact: Lobster Was Actually Considered Poor People’s Food.
Lobster was also known as the poor man’s meal because the overabundance of these guys made it easy for people with no money to get their protein. In fact, lobsters were so plentiful and undesirable that they were commonly used as fertilizer and fish bait by Native Americans and colonists alike.
Their abundance also meant colonists had easy access to protein during bad seasons or harvests, so lobster quickly garnered a reputation as the poor man’s meal.
These crustaceans were fed to prisoners, apprentices, and slaves. It was much later, in the 1950s that the good came to be known as a delicacy, and the prices soared.
Conclusion
Lobsters are a delicacy loved and enjoyed by many people, but it is expensive. Many factors contribute to its rising factor, including high demand for lobster meat. While it is an expensive meal now, it was actually considered poor man’s food in the past.
