According to The Marshall Project, a nonprofit publication that covers the criminal-justice
system in the US, the budget per meal in jails and prisons in the United States is as little
as $0.56.
An example of a meal from a state prison might be something like 2 to 3 ounces of meat or
meat byproduct, half a cup of vegetables, three-quarters of a cup of a starch, and three-quarters
of a cup of salad with dressing.
That doesn’t sound too bad but then on such a low budget the prison kitchen is never going
to be serving up a Masterchef meal.
However, there was a time when some items on the prison menu looked more like what you
would see on a 5-star restaurant menu.
And that’s what we’ll be looking at today, in this episode of The Infographics Show:
Why were lobsters once gruel and prison food?
Changing weather conditions and crop shortages are just some of the reasons why buying a
lobster roll at your local restaurant is more expensive than ever.
The price of these marine crustaceans has nearly doubled, due to bad weather plaguing
New England in 2018, preventing fishermen from reaching the fishing grounds and bringing
back fresh supplies of these tasty sea creatures.
“The supply has been frozen up a little bit, literally,” Matt Jacobson, executive
director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, told Moneyish.
“This winter and spring have been really cold and icy in the Northeast; you haven’t
seen as much supply because boats just haven’t been able to go out.
It’s an outdoor sport — it’s not a farm.”
Why is lobster such a sought after dish in the first place?
It’s probably less to do with the taste and more to do with the lack of availability
in general.
The more rare something is, the higher the price and greater the appeal.
Lobsters are rare because farming them is difficult.
They grow slowly, eat a lot, are susceptible to disease, and their eggs are difficult to
raise, so nearly all the lobsters that end up on our dinner plates are caught in the
wild.
And keeping lobsters alive when shipping is also challenging because they need to stay
cool and moist, as well as having enough oxygen to breathe and live.
So it’s almost like running an aquarium on the fishing boat and this drives the price
up further.
What’s even more interesting is that the high price tag could even have a bearing on
how our taste buds react to food, in this case tasty morsels of lobster meat.
A study carried out by Cornell University found diners tend to rate the quality of their
food higher if they pay more for it, and people who pay less for the same exact meal report
feeling more guilty, bloated and uncomfortable.
The researchers offered 139 diners an all-you-can-eat buffet at a classy Italian restaurant for
either $4 or $8.
Though the diners ate the same food, those who paid $8 rated their meal on average 11%
higher, than those who paid $4.
“If the food is there, you are going to eat it, but the pricing very much affects
how you are going to feel about your meal and how you will evaluate the restaurant,”
Ozge Sigirci, one of the researchers who conducted the study, told Newswise.
Ok, so lobster may even taste better in 2018 because of the high price tag, but lobster
in prisons?
…The night before convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in
Utah, he ordered his final meal, as all death row prisoners are granted the request.
He asked for lobster tail, steak, apple pie and vanilla ice cream.
Murderer Allen Lee Davis also ordered a lobster tail, a half pound of deep fried shrimp, fried
potatoes, fried clams, garlic bread and root beer.
Lobster is popular on death row, but do death row meals really count?
A few millennia ago, lobsters weren’t only a death row request they were also on the
main menu and to understand why we have to jump back in time, to the 17th century...When
colonists first arrived on the shores of New England, they faced a problem people would
wish for today: an overabundance of lobsters, which were literally washing up on beaches,
in drifts two-feet tall.
William Wood, a 17th century British historian who visited Newfoundland was quoted as saying
"Their plenty makes them little esteemed and seldom eaten, except by the Indians who get
many of them every day for to bait their hooks withal and to eat when they can get no bass."
People were able to eat so much lobster they got sick of it.
David Foster Wallace was an American writer and university instructor who, in his essay
titled Consider the Lobster, he noted that the shellfish was eaten as common food during
the Colonial-era in America.
Because of its abundance, it was considered an insect of the sea; a dish for peasants,
that shouldn’t be served on the tables of the wealthy and respectable.
Instead it became the staple diet for prisoners.
Jailers were even forced to limit the amount of lobster they could feed their prisoners.
The prisoners, it seemed, thought the constant lobster dinners constituted “cruel and unusual”
punishment.
As well as criminals, lobster meat was fed to livestock.
According to 19th century Kentucky politician and social observer, John Rowan, the meat
quickly became synonymous with lower classes of society, "Lobster shells about a house
are looked upon as signs of poverty and degradation" he said.
This attitude towards lobsters lasted for years into the 1800’s- during the Victorian
era it cost roughly 53 cents per pound for Boston baked beans yet only 11 cents per pound
for lobster.
Lobster was still considered something you'd feed to your cat, not put on your own plate.
By the 1940’s American customers could buy lobster meat in cans just like spam or tuna,
but supplies eventually dwindled, with fewer lobsters available and fisherman having to
head in to deeper waters to bring back supplies.
Canned lobster ceased to be profitable and live lobsters grew in status as they became
more and more expensive.
A meal that cost $4 in the 1870’s cost $30 or more a century later.
What was once in plentiful supply and even the lowliest servant once refused, the swankiest
restaurateur now offers with pride, and often at the highest price on the menu.
Is it really worth it?
Do you enjoy eating lobster or do you think the taste is overpriced and overrated?
Let us know by commenting in the notes.
Also be sure to check out our other video, GROSS Food In Other Countries.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Infographics Show and remember to like, share
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