LOBSTER: FROM DOG FOOD TO DELICACY.

Considering the cost of lobster in many Singaporean restaurants, it’s hard to believe that there was once a time when it was considered the least desirable food one could eat.

New England, America, Colonial era.

Lobsters used to arrive to shore by the thousands… hundreds of thousands! People ate so much lobster they got sick of it.

In markets, the price of this crustacean was one fifth of the price of what we consider basic foods (such as beans or chicken).

The accumulation of lobster shells outside of a house was considered a sign of poverty. So ‘respectable’ members of society fed them only to servants and animals.

Lobster was also the least desirable menu option for prisoners in the state of Massachusetts.

Two hundred years later, lobster’s supply and demand equilibrium has changed dramatically and now costs significantly more. Have you ever considered that lobster might just seem to taste better because it’s so expensive? The fact that people are willing to pay top dollar for lobster is proof that if peer behavior around a product changes, so too do our perceptions of it.

From a nutrition perspective, lobster is a source of copper and selenium and also contains zinc, phosphorus, vitamin B12, magnesium, vitamin E and a small amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Selenium has been shown to be a necessary component for proper thyroid function and we all know the role of Omega 3 in lowering the risk of heart disease, depression and arthritis.

But hey, there are many other sources of these benefits that don’t require paying a premium fee, such as salmon or yellow fin tuna.

Also, very often in Singapore lobster is cooked with butter, which makes it less healthy by adding to its cholesterol levels.

So give it a second thought, do you actually like lobster or are your taste buds just pretentious?