David Foster Wallace’s 2004 essay of this title was republished in 2005 as a book of essays under the same title. The lobster essay described the countless lobster boils that are an annual ritual up and down the American east coast. He told of how living crustaceans were summarily thrown into boiling water so that people could enjoy their flesh with butter. I think he felt compassion for the lobsters; over my entire work life there were perhaps a few days at work when I felt like I was being (metaphorically) boiled alive – I think that’s an experience with which many can identify.
You have likely read that the Bering Sea snow crab fishing season has been called off because of a 90% decrease in snow crab populations that has occurred over the past four years in that fishery. The reason, as I understand it, is that climate change has killed off the crabs’ food sources. The fact that we have continued to put them on our dining room tables despite their declining abundance hasn’t helped matters.
I enjoy both of these seafood items, lobster and crab, though perhaps slightly less so that a perfectly pan-friend scallop in lemon butter. Last night, we had a Canadian lobster tail – one each. They’ve become ridiculously expensive, in part, no doubt, to the declining availability of other shellfish. Alas, we need to consider all that we harvest from the oceans – not just the noble lobster.
