- [Voiceover] It's red and pricey.
It's a critter and a delicacy.
It's the crème de la crème of seafood,
but this beloved summertime favorite was once thought of
as the poor man's food.
Say what?
It is said that in the early 16th century
as the first Pilgrims began to settle
in bay areas of America
that the oceans overfloweth with lobster.
No, literally, they overfloweth.
Imagine a shore with a lobster wall two feet tall.
As one would expect, the settlers ate them up
until, like anything eaten three times a day,
they got sick of them,
eventually deeming them the cockroaches of the sea.
After that, lobsters were used as fertilizer,
fish bait, and ultimately prison food.
They were fed so often to inmates
that there was even a law enacted to protect said inmates
from cruel and unusual lobster punishment.
So, then how did lobster become the succulent delicacy
we all know and love?
Fast forward to the mid 1800s.
Canned food became a thing, as did the railroad.
Lobsters were canned and shipped to Middle America.
At the same time, Middle Americans started traveling
to New England for fresh lobster.
By the late 1880s, prices began to surge.
And by World War II, lobsters become the pricey speciality
we've all grown to enjoy.
(jaunty piano music)