Aunt Bea
Master Chef
This always cracks me up! How times change.
Along the northeastern coast of the U.S., the lobster was once so common in the 17th and 18th centuries that it was considered a "junk" food. When caught in great quantities or stranded on shore after severe storms, lobsters served as garden fertilizer and as a food staple given to widows, orphans, servants, and prisoners. It was so commonly used as a food for servants and prisoners that Massachusetts passed a law forbidding its use more than twice a week - - a daily lobster dinner was considered cruel and unusual punishment!
Along the northeastern coast of the U.S., the lobster was once so common in the 17th and 18th centuries that it was considered a "junk" food. When caught in great quantities or stranded on shore after severe storms, lobsters served as garden fertilizer and as a food staple given to widows, orphans, servants, and prisoners. It was so commonly used as a food for servants and prisoners that Massachusetts passed a law forbidding its use more than twice a week - - a daily lobster dinner was considered cruel and unusual punishment!