Editing Lobster (section)

=== History ===
[[File:Kentish crab rolls.jpg|alt=Lobster rolls in Kent, England|thumb|Lobster rolls in Kent, England]]
[[File:Lobster, Crab, and a Cucumber - 1891P32.jpg|thumb|''Lobster, Crab, and a Cucumber'' by [[William Henry Hunt (painter)|William Henry Hunt]] (watercolour, 1826 or 1827)]]
[[File:Lobster, by Nagasawa Rosetsu.jpg|thumb|''Lobster'', Japanese silk painting by [[Nagasawa Rosetsu]] (長沢芦雪), 18th century]]

Humans are claimed to have eaten lobster since early history. Large piles of lobster shells near areas populated by fishing communities attest to the crustacean's extreme popularity during this period {{which|date=March 2025}}. Evidence indicates that lobster was being consumed as a regular food product in fishing communities along the shores of Britain,<ref name="Townsend-2011" /> South Africa,<ref name="Townsend-2011" /> Australia, and Papua New Guinea years ago {{When|date=March 2025}}. Lobster became a significant source of nutrients among European coastal dwellers {{When|date=March 2025}}. Historians suggest lobster was an important secondary food source for most European coastal dwellers, and it was a primary food source for coastal communities in Britain during this time.<ref name="Townsend-2011">{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|title=Lobster: A Global History|publisher=Reaktion Books, Limited|year=2011|isbn=9781861899958|pages=24–26}}</ref>{{clarify|reason=During what time? This whole paragraph is unclear on what time period is being referred to.|date=November 2024}}

Lobster became a popular mid-range delicacy during the [[Roman Empire|mid to late Roman period]]. The price of lobster could vary widely due to various factors, but evidence indicates that lobster was regularly transported inland over long distances to meet popular demand. A mosaic found in the ruins of [[Pompeii]] suggests that the [[spiny lobster]] was of considerable interest to the Roman population during the early imperial period.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=25|oclc=787845160}}</ref>

Lobster was a popular food among the [[Moche culture|Moche people]] of Peru between 50 CE and 800 CE. Besides its use as food, lobster shells were also used to create a light pink dye, ornaments, and tools. A mass-produced lobster-shaped effigy vessel dated to this period attests to lobster's popularity at this time, though the purpose of this vessel has not been identified.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=25–26|oclc=787845160}}</ref>

The [[Viking Age|Viking period]] saw an increase in lobster and other shellfish consumption among northern Europeans. This can be attributed to the overall increase in marine activity due to the development of better boats and the increasing cultural investment in building ships and training sailors. The consumption of marine life went up overall in this period, and the consumption of lobster went up in accordance with this general trend.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=26–27|oclc=787845160}}</ref>

Unlike fish, however, lobster had to be cooked within two days of leaving salt water, limiting the availability of lobster for inland dwellers. Thus lobster, more than fish, became a food primarily available to the relatively well-off, at least among non-coastal dwellers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=27|oclc=787845160}}</ref>
[[File:The Lobster Pot - a shellfish company from Wales - 2016.webm|thumb|A short video on catching and wholesale exports; 2016]]

Lobster is first mentioned in cookbooks during the medieval period. ''[[Le Viandier|Le Viandier de Taillevent]],'' a French recipe collection written around 1300, suggests that lobster (also called saltwater crayfish) be "Cooked in wine and water, or in the oven; eaten in vinegar."<ref>{{Cite web|title=James Prescott - Le Viandier de Taillevent - Translation - Round Saltwater Fish|url=http://www.telusplanet.net/public/prescotj/data/viandier/viandier439.html|access-date=2021-01-20|website=www.telusplanet.net|archive-date=February 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226220913/http://www.telusplanet.net/public/prescotj/data/viandier/viandier439.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Le Viandier de Taillevent'' is considered to be one of the first "haute cuisine" cookbooks, advising on how to cook meals that would have been quite elaborate for the period and making usage of expensive and hard to obtain ingredients. Though the original edition, which includes the recipe for lobster, was published before the birth of French court cook [[Guillaume Tirel]], Tirel later expanded and republished this recipe collection, suggesting that the recipes included in both editions were popular among the highest circles of French nobility, including King Philip VI.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Trubek, Amy B.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48136425|title=Haute cuisine : how the French invented the culinary profession|year=2001|orig-year= 2000|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0-8122-1776-4|location=Philadelphia, Pa.|oclc=48136425}}</ref> The inclusion of a lobster recipe in this cookbook, especially one which does not make use of other more expensive ingredients, attests to the popularity of lobster among the wealthy.

The French household guidebook ''[[Le Ménagier de Paris]]'', published in 1393, includes no less than five recipes including lobster, which vary in elaboration.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Le Menagier de Paris (c)Janet Hinson, translator|url=http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html|access-date=2021-01-20|website=www.daviddfriedman.com}}</ref> A guidebook intended to provide advice for women running upper-class households, ''Le Ménagier de Paris'' is similar to its predecessor in that it indicates the popularity of lobster as a food among the upper classes.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/732957170|title=The good wife's guide = Le ménagier de Paris : a medieval household book|date=2009|publisher=Cornell University Press|others=Greco, Gina L., Rose, Christine M., 1949-|isbn=978-0-8014-6196-5|location=Ithaca|oclc=732957170}}</ref>

That lobster was first mentioned in cookbooks during the 1300s and only mentioned in two during this century should not be taken as an implication that lobster was not widely consumed before or during this time. Recipe collections were virtually non-existent before the 1300s, and only a handful exist from the medieval period.

During the early 1400s, lobster was still a popular dish among the upper classes. During this time, influential households used the variety and variation of species served at feasts to display wealth and prestige. Lobster was commonly found among these spreads, indicating that it continued to be held in high esteem among the wealthy. In one notable instance, the [[Bishop of Salisbury]] offered at least 42 kinds of crustaceans and fish at his feasts over nine months, including several varieties of lobster. However, lobster was not a food exclusively accessed by the wealthy. The general population living on the coasts made use of the various food sources provided by the ocean, and shellfish especially became a more popular source of nutrition. Among the general population, lobster was generally eaten boiled during the mid-15th century, but the influence of the cuisine of higher society can be seen in that it was now also regularly eaten cold with vinegar. The inland peasantry would still have generally been unfamiliar with lobster during this time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=28|oclc=787845160}}</ref>

Lobster continued to be eaten as a delicacy and a general staple food among coastal communities until the late 17th century. During this time, the influence of the Church and the government regulating and sometimes banning meat consumption during certain periods continued to encourage the popularity of seafood, especially shellfish, as a [[meat alternative]] among all classes. Throughout this period, lobster was eaten fresh, [[Pickling|pickled]], and [[Salting (food)|salted]]. From the late 17th century onward, developments in fishing, transportation, and cooking technology allowed lobster to more easily make its way inland, and the variety of dishes involving lobster and cooking techniques used with the ingredient expanded.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=28–31|oclc=787845160}}</ref> However, these developments coincided with a decrease in the lobster population, and lobster increasingly became a delicacy food, valued among the rich as a status symbol and less likely to be found in the diet of the general population.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=35|oclc=787845160}}</ref>

The American lobster was not originally popular among European colonists in North America. This was partially due to the European inlander's association of lobster with barely edible salted seafood and partially due to a cultural opinion that seafood was a lesser alternative to meat that did not provide the taste or nutrients desired. It was also due to the extreme abundance of lobster at the time of the colonists' arrival, which contributed to a general perception of lobster as an undesirable peasant food.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/787845160|title=Lobster : a global history|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8|location=London|pages=31–35|oclc=787845160}}</ref> The American lobster did not achieve popularity until the mid-19th century when New Yorkers and Bostonians developed a taste for it, and commercial lobster fisheries only flourished after the development of the [[Well smack|lobster smack]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Colin |last=Woodard |url=https://archive.org/details/lobstercoastrebe00wood/page/170 |title=The Lobster Coast |publisher=New York: Viking/Penguin |isbn=978-0-670-03324-9 |year=2004 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lobstercoastrebe00wood/page/170 170–180] }}</ref> a custom-made boat with open holding wells on the deck to keep the lobsters alive during transport.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lobster Institute: History |work=The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine |url=http://www.lobster.um.maine.edu/index.php?page=52 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907212957/http://www.lobster.um.maine.edu/index.php?page=52 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2006 |access-date=June 11, 2012}}</ref>

Before this time, lobster was considered a [[poverty food]] or as a food for [[indentured servant]]s or lower members of society in [[Maine]], [[Massachusetts]], and the [[The Maritimes|Canadian Maritimes]]. Some servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/occoa18|title=18 Ocean and Coastal Law Journal 2012-2013|website=heinonline.org|access-date=2019-01-26}}</ref> however there is limited evidence for this.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbcmYPVphZUC&q=prisoners+eat+lobster&pg=PT18|title=Lobster: A Global History|last=Townsend|first=Elisabeth|date=January 1, 2012 |publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-86189-995-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/how-lobster-went-up-in-the-world-xnbgmwkm77z|title=How lobster went up in the world |last=Henderson |first=Mark |date=October 24, 2005|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=January 11, 2018|location=London|url-access=registration }}</ref> {{anchor|AnchorPrison}}Lobster was also commonly served in prisons, much to the displeasure of inmates.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maine.gov/sos/kids/about/lobster.htm |work=All About Maine |title=Lobster |publisher=[[Secretary of State of Maine]] |access-date=July 29, 2013 |archive-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423221309/http://www.maine.gov/sos/kids/about/lobster.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as [[fertilizer]] or fish bait, and until well into the 20th century, it was not viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food.<ref name="Fish Forever">{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Johnson |title=Fish Forever: The Definitive Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Preparing Healthy, Delicious, and Environmentally Sustainable Seafood | chapter=Lobster | publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7645-8779-5|pages=163–175}}</ref>

As a crustacean, lobster remains a [[taboo food]] in the [[dietary laws]] of [[Judaism]] and [[List of halal and kosher fish|certain streams]] of [[Islam]].{{NoteTag|See also: [[Kashrut]], [[Halal]], and [[List of halal and kosher fish]]}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gfs.com/en-us/ideas/eating-according-religious-practices-kosher-and-halal|title=Eating According to Religious Practices: Kosher and Halal|last1=Gagne|first1=Anne-Marie|last2=RD|website=Gordon Food Service|date=April 13, 2016|language=en-us|access-date=2020-02-07|archive-date=June 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610181043/https://www.gfs.com/en-us/ideas/eating-according-religious-practices-kosher-and-halal|url-status=dead}}</ref>