The Lobster Chronicles
Life on a Very Small Island
Chapter One
Lobsters
* * *
In terms of status, the lobster has come a long way. Homarus
americanus, or the Maine lobster, ascended from humble fare to
fodder fit for royal banquets in a relatively short one hundred
years, a true success story. Prior to the nineteenth century, only
widows, orphans, and servants ate lobster. And in some parts of
New England, serving lobster to prison inmates more than once
a week was forbidden by law, as doing so was considered cruel
and unusual punishment.
Lobsters are Arthropoda, the phylum whose membership includes
insects and spiders. Although lobsters are highly unsightly,
the sweet, salty, sensual delight of a claw dipped into drawn butter
more than compensates for the lobster's cockroachlike appearance
and the work involved in extracting meat from shell. Yet in spite
of prestige and high standing, the fishermen of Isle Au Haut still
refer to them as "bugs."
Isle Au Haut (pronounced I-LA-HOE) is a small inha ... read full excerpt from: The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island ebook
