Uppie's Farmhand[pb_blockquote author=”Elizabeth Gilbert”]“I have never created anything in my life that did not make me feel, at some point or another, like I was the guy who just walked into a fancy ball wearing a homemade lobster costume.”[/pb_blockquote]
Prior to finding favor with New Yorkers and Bostonians, the American lobster did not achieve popularity until the mid-19th century and was in fact considered only suitable as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Canadian Maritimes. Some servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week. Lobster was also commonly served in prisons, much to the displeasure of inmates. American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as fertilizer or fish bait, and until well into the 20th century, it was not viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food. As a crustacean, lobster remains a taboo food in the dietary laws of Judaism and certain streams of Islam.
But for many people visiting the beaches of Northeastern United States, it is a delicacy, a rite of passage and possibly the very reason for the trip.
As for Uppie, she rarely orders them in restaurants, doesn’t ascribe to the bathing them in butter, and only buys them when they go on sale. But when she wants one, there is nothing stopping her.
Uppie's Farmhand
