Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Lobster
The word lobster is a descriptive term that comes from the Latin word forlocust, locus. It’s not hard to see the resemblance. The Latin word is derived from an even older word, loppe, meaning spider. So basically you are looking at the equivalent of an ocean insect. That’s a difficult sales market to crack (pun intended) since lobsters are all about marketing, image, supply and demand.
In Colonial America, lobsters were considered food fit only for poor people, servants and prisoners. Some states actually had laws preventing the feeding of lobsters to prisoners more than a few times a week on the grounds of it being cruel and unusual punishment (for the prisoners, not the lobsters). Part of the problem was their overabundance. (the lobsters, not the prisoners). Lobsters are said to have washed up on the shore in piles and were used as fertilizer and fish bait.
Marketing and railroads changed the lobster’s fate. Soon they were shipped to parts of the country unaware of their lowly origins. Better cooking methods and lots of butter sealed their fate.
Today the once lowly lobster is a desirable commodity and an economic powerhouse with international reach. Not bad for a food once considered a meal fit only for the indigent, indentured and incarcerated. Bon appétit!
