As I've mentioned, I'm from New England. I'm not only of those Mayflower types, far from it, but I do identify as a New Englander. A lot of people are really enamored of lobster and are willing to pay crazy prices for it. Well, due to the recession and what I understand to be a glut of lobster this past year, I saw most places selling lobster at $3.99/lb and one place at $2.99/lb. Unfortunately, I don't really care much for crustaceans. They're pretty good, but kind of a weird texture in all the species I've tried.
Anyway, the post about "how many animals a vegetarian saves" got me thinking about lobster. In the link I posted, it mentions the largest lobster ever caught. According to some sources, lobsters have the potential to live, if not indefinitely under ideal conditions, certainly for a very, very long time. Though the lobster in the linked article was impossible to attribute an age to, just imagine how much longer a lobster would have to live to achieve the size of the largest lobster on record, which according to [The Lobster Institute] is as follows:
3 ½ feet! As much as I enjoy eating meat and seafood, it does pain me to understand that human predation and consumption is the major contributor to the decline in flora and fauna world wide.
I just went to a medical conference with my wife and they served lobster one evening. It was hilarious to look around and see all the people there trying to figure out how to eat the lobster and not get dirty. -Pretty difficult. There were no hammers or crackers on the table but eventually, one brave soul at my table took the butt of his butter-knife and started whacking at the claw. Within a 30 seconds you could hear the same whacking sound from all of the other tables.
I think Lobster is by far the most over-rated food out there. I've had some really fantastic lobster too and it can be good, but there are so many better things to eat, even in the crustacean family. I'll take King Crab over Lobster almost any day.
If you put a good burrito and a lobster tail in front of me, I'd take the burrito. A burrito has the added advantage of never making me feel like I'm eating a giant water-insect.