Posted on 06/13/2006 7:18:16 AM PDT by Cat loving Texan
No wonder people think this town is goofy. The Whole Foods Market chain headquartered here in Austin is thinking about stopping the sale of live lobsters because it could be cruel to the lobsters.
"We're reviewing the entire process literally from boat to plate to see if we can make some significant improvement in that whole supply process," Whole Foods spokeswoman Kate Lowery said.
One way Whole Foods could make some significant improvement would be to release all the lobsters into Town Lake. That way I could collect them and eat them.
Still, on Thursday the Whole Foods leadership will discuss whether to discontinue marketing live lobsters because the lobsters may not be getting humane treatment. At issue here is what people do with the lobsters when they take them home — that is, boil them and dip them in drawn butter. "It's ultimately how they're handled by the consumer after they go home that's a concern," Lowery said.
What are we supposed to do? Give them names like Larry the Lobster and take them for a walk?
Then there's the problem of the lobster's in-store living conditions. Whole Foods would like the lobsters to have an environment similar to their natural habitat.
"They like dark areas, and they like solitary," Lowery said. "You can imagine how they would go and kind of burrow into rocks, creating their own space." I think I went drinking once in a place like that in the Warehouse District.
Lowery added that at some point Whole Foods will also address the ticklish issue of selling live clams.
Are you concerned about clams' feelings? Have you ever had a conversation with a clam? Wait. Let me rephrase that. Have you ever had a conversation with a clam when you weren't on acid?
If the answer is yes, get a job at Whole Foods.
Another concern is the way children bother the lobsters by tapping on the lobster tank glass. I don't care about that. But I wish science could figure a way to put children on mute and vibrate, like with a cell phone. Now there's a concept that would sell.
Anyway, I went over to the Whole Foods store to see if the live lobsters are getting a bum deal in the seafood section. Actually, the lobsters are getting off easy. They're still kickin'. It's the tilapia and salmon that are getting screwed. The tilapia have been hacked to pieces, and the wild salmon have been mushed up with spinach and feta cheese and turned into burgers.
Ain't a vet in town could bring these salmon back. And you're telling me the lobsters have a bum deal?
One of the problems, said the guy working at the Whole Foods fish counter, is that they can't feed the lobsters in the tank. "When you eat, you then poop, and this creates a dirty tank," he said. Yeah, I've noticed that connection. Maybe Whole Foods could hand the lobsters some bum wad.
Another problem, the seafood counter guy said, is the way lobsters are transported to the store. "They're put in a box and wrapped tightly with wet newspaper over the lobster," he said.
So Whole Foods could pick up the lobster in a limo. At the prices they charge, they could afford it.
John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 445-3606 or jkelso@statesman.com.
There was a scene in the movie "Tom Horn," where Steve McQueen as Tom Horn is at a lunch given by the cattle coop, and they served lobster. McQueen looked at the lobsters with a funny look on his face, and a woman told him it was a lobster: "Haven't you ever eaten a lobster before?" He replied, "I never ate a bug that big!"
Mark
Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck?) Markets tend to proliferate where there are plenty of snobby rich liberals to patronize them (see: Austin, TX, Ann Arbor, MI) who don't want to be confused with the plebes at the likes of Kroger, Meijer, or, god forbid, Wal-Mart.
whole foods ping!
they have some unique items, the quality of the produce is excellent, and so are the prepared foods. the organic milk is good, and I prefer to buy cheese that tastes like something other then spackle.
Milk is Milk.. I have yet to see a taste test where anything organic beat anything non organic, particularly when you are talking about food being shipped and distributed.
Yes FRESH food is great, but organic v non organic, for the most part is nothing more than foolishness. More microbes, smaller yield, more wasted energy etc etc etc.
Organic is largely an affluent luxury of a wealthy nation, organic growing won't solve world hunger or stave off disease... There is nothing against folks who decide they want to pay for that luxury, but to try to spin that into I'm a goodie too shoes because I reward folks who are less productive... is just nonsensical.
By and large the store caters to elitists who just want to feel good.
I won't argue mass produced commercial stuff can't compare to high end quality, but you can get way better cheese and milk right from a small local dairy farm than any Whole Foods store.
However if you can't do that, you will find specialty shops that will blow any supermarket no matter the name away.
I'll give Whole Foods credit, they get people to pay WAY more for things than they are worth and make them feel good about doing so.... PT Barnum would be proud.
try the milk, get back to me.
Not at all. Dems have brains. Just check out the analysis of typical sociopaths to get an idea.
At least Whole Foods is run by a libertarian, pro-capitalist.
Don't know about some of the employees though ;)
What scared me is after I had cut off the tails, I was cleaning them out in the sink and whan I scraped the nerve with my fingernail it just started flipping out all over!
Potatoes also scream when they are microwaved.
I got one larger than that, 19#.
It was small in comparison to one a guy got in Baja in the late 40s, it was 5' long not counting the feelers.
Somebody must have seen the Iron Chef lobster challenge where the live lobsters met the knives.
"They just don't react to temperature-based pain the way that you do"
I pitty you if you don't curl up their tail and hold it that way until they quit kicking when you stick their heads in the water.
I saw an idiot just drop one in a pot one time and the thing almost emptied the pot of boiling water with it's tail.
I bought a lobster tail from them Saturday.
screaming potatoes....there's a band name!
you cut up a live lobster? if you don't want to cook it whole and immerse it in boiling water first, you are supposed to first split the head with a sharp knife to kill it, then cut it up.
if you keep them heavily iced down before cooking, they essentially are comatose from the cold, and don't struggle like that when you put them in the water.
Figured I ought to do a little cross-referencing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1648693/posts
The're pretty iced up and covered with a wet towell and kept in a cooler...pretty lethargic. I will remember that in the future as I would cut off the claws first, then the tail.
if you are really into it, this guy is the best:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684800772/qid=1150229927/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-9441025-5037556?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
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