The Mystery of Cheap Lobster (Lobster Prices Dropping!!!)

The Atlantic ^ | June 24, 2009 | Trevor Corson

[PJ-Comix]

What has the world come to? A report has come across the newswire telling of misery among the lobstermen of New England. They have too many lobsters, and no one wants to buy them. Remember when lobster was one of the most expensive foods you could buy? Now it's so cheap that fishermen are hawking lobsters on the street for a few bucks.

[PJ-Comix]

Now lobstermen are trying to hawk their extra lobsters on the street, and retailers are furious, because it's undercutting prices even more.

This is what caught my eye. Where in Maine does one find the lobstermen hawking their extra lobsters on the street? I'm already hungry. Yummmmm....

[Bobkk47]

Lobsters are cousins to cockroaches. But, what the heck, they still taste good (with a little warm butter).

[Owl_Eagle]

I’ve seen something similar with pineapples.

The fields of Costa Rica are choked with them. Only 1/2 the pineapples purchased are ever consumed (they’re usually a center piece) and nobody is going to pay $5.99 for a decoration.

Waterfront warehouses are full of them. A lot of the importers are selling at a loss just to recoup some of their money.

[aft_lizard]

Yuck, I don’t like lobsters. But I remember reading that most people in the North East didn’t care too much for lobster until the twentieth century and it was mostly given to prisoners and the poor who ate so much of it they simply couldn’t stand it after awhile.

[freedumb2003]

>>Lobsters are cousins to cockroaches. But, what the heck, they still taste good (with a little warm butter).<<

I wouldn’t know. I have never eaten a cockroach with warm butter...

[GQuagmire]

Late last year lobster was cheaper by the pound than most cold cuts up here. Needless to say my lobster consumption has increased......

[DuncanWaring]

What was the price-per-pound after you threw away the shell?

[Mamzelle]

There was a time, before tourists, that the lobster was considered poverty food...

[PJ-Comix]

I’ve seen something similar with pineapples.

Cheap here in Florida. I can get them at the flea markets for about $1 to $2 each.

[GQuagmire]

Are to trying to ruin my good time? ;)

I’d much rather have a lobster roll than a ham sandwich...

[BIGLOOK]

[PJ-Comix]

I’ve read histories of Biscayne Bay. Years ago the bottom of Biscayne Bay was littered with Florida lobsters (actually large crayfish). I can believe that because when I was a teenager, you just swam out about a 500 yards from shore into the Atlantic and the bottom would be covered with Florida lobsters (really crayfish).

[DuncanWaring]

Are to trying to ruin my good time?

Just one more service I offer. ;-)

[taxtruth]

Very true.They were considered a poor mans food in New England in the 1700’s.The prisoners didn't even want them.

[doodad]

That would explain the restaurant specials I have been seeing lately.

[Bernard Marx]

There was a time, before tourists, that the lobster was considered poverty food...

And back in the 40s when I was a kid, our Depresssion "poverty food" often consisted of canned Alaska red sockeye salmon sandwiches and patties. Has anyone priced a can of that stuff lately? It runs around $10 for the same 15 oz. can.

[scrabblehack]

I like pineapple but it’s a bit of a hassle to buy a whole pineapple and cut it up yourself. I probably pay way too much for cut pineapple.

I’m not a big lobster fan though.

[advance_copy]

Obamanomics in action

[kaehurowing]

Another sad effect of global warming and Bush Administration malfeasance. [/sarc]

[AFPhys]

Ping - prime time to check the specials...

[Little Bill]

$4.99 a pound in Rochester, NH, Market Basket, real lobster, probably half that or less on the docks.

[JoeProBono]

[GQuagmire]

From what I’m told(I’ve never had a lobster that was from south of NE)there’s a big difference in taste.

On another note I’m actually on a big shrimp kick these days.Can’t get enough of them....

[Boogieman]

Well, it’s good to remember there can be an upside to recessions :)

Prices that are overinflated without a sound basis can deflate overnight when people need to think about what is really important to spend their money. Not good for the lobstermen, but they’ve had a good run!

[PJ-Comix]

I like pineapple but it’s a bit of a hassle to buy a whole pineapple and cut it up yourself. I probably pay way too much for cut pineapple.

I used to eat it fresh from the field in Puerto Rico. Very sweet with low acidity.

[patton]

Friend of mine grew up in NH.

She said you knew who the rich kids were, they had PBJ, instead of lobster.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Where in Maine does one find the lobstermen hawking their extra lobsters on the street? I'm already hungry.

Try Rt. 1 along the Maine coast. The seafood trucks used to be around here in southern New Hampshire, away from the coast, but I haven't seen them lately. Maybe they'll come back now!

And for Freepers who wonder how lobster changed from being poor folks' food to food for the rich, I understand that the Rockefellers began serving lobster to their wealthy pals when they owned much of Maine's Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park a hundred years ago.

Must go plan my summer vaca in Maine now!

[PJ-Comix]

On another note I’m actually on a big shrimp kick these days.Can’t get enough of them....

I love jumbo shrimp. Albertsons down here sometimes have them on special. Buy one bag, get TWO bags free!

[andy58-in-nh]

The best pineapple I ever had was in Costa Rica, last year - fresh-picked, sweet as candy and melted right in your mouth. Ummm.

[KosmicKitty]

Went to a lobster festival last night. Hubby won the tickets in a raffle at work. Twin lobsters, baked tater, corn on the cob, cole slaw, roll, butter, apple pie with vanilla ice cream and all the wine, beer, or soda you could drink. Not bad for $38 a ticket, but we got all of it for free!! And, it was really, really good!!

Going to make left-overs into lobster bisque today.

[GQuagmire]

Haven’t found any deals that good around here(yet).

[PJ-Comix]

Psst! If you show up at seafood festivals on their final day and wait until it is almost over, you can get almost all the seafood for free or for next to nothing. All they are going to do with all that extra seafood is dump it anyway.

[PJ-Comix]

Go to NeverPayRetailAgain.Net and you will end up paying only about 25 cents on the dollar for your food and a lot of other stuff. I just picked up 16 oz packages of great Canadian bacon for just $1.88 each. Not long ago I paid only $1.49 each for packages of Hebrew National hot dogs. My big thing now is to wait for a BOGO sale on pints of Starbucks ice cream so I can get them for less than a buck each with my coupons.

Sale/Coupon matchups are all provided for you at NeverPayRetailAgain.Net.

[KosmicKitty]

Not at this one - all the tickets are sold in advance. The only thing you can get at the door is a kid’s meal ticket which was for soda, pizza, & dessert.

It was a town rotary club that’s been doing the festival for years. And by, did they have it down. Quick service, & really good food!

[bert]

.....Lobsters are cousins to cockroaches...

No, lobsters are crustaceans and roaches are insects

[bert]

We are eating lots of pineapple......mmmm good

[PJ-Comix]

Not at this one - all the tickets are sold in advance. The only thing you can get at the door is a kid’s meal ticket which was for soda, pizza, & dessert.

I was thinking of the seafood festivals down here. They are usually about $10 to get in but then I end up with free seafood or seafood for almost nothing. Once I got a huge box full of golden crabs (caught at very deep depths and become golden rather than red when boiled) at the Marathon Seafood festival for only 4 bucks. I actually got it hours before the festival was scheduled to end because all the vendors were quickly packing up due to reports of a huge windstorm about to hit.

[Clintonfatigued]

Global warming? In any case, it’s Bush’s fault.

[maineman]

Was that picture taken in Camden, ME.?

[PJ-Comix]

Check above tips about Florida seafood festivals.

[Tanniker Smith]

Snails were poor people food, too, until it became Escargot.

For that matter, I'm told that corned beef and cabbage became associated with the Irish during the Depression (and before that) because that was all they could afford to eat and feed their families. Corned beef may not have lobster prices but it aint for the poor anymore, either.

[stormer]

They are in different classes (crustacea vs. insecta), but they are in the same phylum, arthopoda.

[steveo]

At a recent cruise port in southern Mexico, there was a guy who had a pickup truck full of Piñas, store owners would come out to his truck and pick out a few for their home consumption. The smell was beautiful.

[BooBoo1000]

The Lobster glut has not reached Las Vegas. Looked last night; Lobster was $ 9.50 per pound at Albertson.

[aft_lizard]

A positive note is that the lessened demand will help restock them. Assuming that sometime in the future we recover from the recession the lobster guys could potentially be looking at a boom.

[lonestar]

I ate lobster in Rockport....years ago!

[PJ-Comix]

The Lobster glut has not reached Las Vegas. Looked last night; Lobster was $ 9.50 per pound at Albertson.

We had a King buffet down here (now closed) over at Imperial Point on Federal Highway. One of the items was baby lobsters. I used to eat those by the dozen. Lunch buffet very cheap. Only about 7 bucks. Less with the 10% discount coupon.

[Gabz]

She said you knew who the rich kids were, they had PBJ, instead of lobster.

My husband's from up that way, but he always said the rich kids in school had meatloaf, not PBJ :)

[shadowcat]

Market 99, Spring Mountain and Wynn.

$8.50 lb last week

[danamco]

I am here, which flee market???

I have been able to get the frozen @ $5,95 from Penn-Dutch Market, Ft. Lauderdale!!!