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In 1623, during a period of food scarcity in Plymouth Colony (in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts), the colonial governor William Bradford wrote a letter complaining that the “best dish” the settlers could prepare was “a lobster or a piece of fish without bread [or] anything else but a cup of fair spring water.”
Lobsters were being consumed in Europe before anyone sailed across the Atlantic to the Americas. When the British settlers first sailed to New England, there were so many lobsters off the coast that they didn’t even need to dive for them or catch them. After storms, they would simply wash up onto the shore. Literally hundreds of lobsters would wash onto the shore in piles. Due to the surplus, they were considered low-status food. The settlers picked up quickly that these animals would spoil fast if they weren’t cooked and consumed fast enough. Lobster was identified as a source of quick protein. They were often called "cockroaches of the sea" and used for fertilizer or fish bait.
Lobsters were so plentiful at thistime that Native Americans would use them to fertilize their crops and bait their fishing hooks. Native Americans would eat them as well and it’s from Native Americans where the classic New England clambake came from. To prepare the lobsters to eat, Native Americans would cover them in seaweed and bake them over hot rocks.
Before the late 1700’s, lobsters were gathered by hand along the shoreline. In the late 1700’s a boat known as a ‘smack’, which had tanks with holes in them that allowed seawater to circulate inside of them, were introduced in Maine to transport live lobsters. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that lobster trapping, which was first practiced in Maine, became the most popular way to collect lobsters.
It was in the 1880’s that lobsters finally began to shuck away their bad reputation. They were beginning to be served in diners particularly in Boston and New York and from here, prices rose. Yet, while the customer base increased, the price of lobster stayed low, still largely seen as a pauper’s food. A can of Boston baked beans in 1940 would have run you 53 cents per pound, a fortune compared to a can of lobster which cost only 11 cents per pound.
In addition to canning, the railroad began to spread across the country. Visitors to New England who lived in landlocked states or more inland areas had never heard of the crustacean, and upon first bite, fell in love with the delicious meat. They were served lobster as if it was a rare and exotic delicacy, which to them it was, bringing in a nice premium for the transport managers and helping to change the lobster’s reputation.
Just when lobster had hit its stride and was fetching prices so high it had become a food only afforded by the upper class, the Great Depression began. People could no longer afford lobster, so without a home market, the demand dropped and the government began using canned lobster to feed the troops abroad serving in World War II. Lobster was also a ‘soldiers staple’ because the lobster meat was easy to can, consume and a great source of protein.
In 2024, the Maine lobster industry hauled in 86 million pounds of lobster, the lowest level in 15 years. Operational costs, regulatory protections and fewer young people entering the field are thought to be the reasons.