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Lobster - A Global History | |
Lobster - A Global History, by Elisabeth Townsend, is everyone's guide to the tasty crustaceans that are now considered a delicacy worldwide. | ||
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Lobster - A Global History, by Elisabeth Townsend, is everyone's guide to the tasty crustaceans that are now considered a delicacy worldwide. Once considered fit only to be used as fertilizer or fed to the poor and starving, lobster has long since assumed its rightful place as a favored main course on summer picnic tables, in sushi bars, and at elegant restaurants throughout the world. New England has a special relationship with lobster, of course, but there's much more to this intriguing beast than devouring one or two at a summer lobster pound or clambake. Lobster has been around for at least 250 million years on earth, and has been found in 100 varieties. —Lobsters were a favorite ingredient in still-life paintings by some of Europe's great masters —Lobster precipitated an international conflict: the so-called "Lobster War" between France and Brazil (1963) over fishing grounds for lobster in the south Atlantic. —Delicacy? Lobster is in the same phylum as the spider and the centipede. Basically, it's a bug! —Lobsters are green when alive, red when cooked, yes? Not always. Some are blue! There's lots more in Lobster - A Global History— lots more than the fascinating history. Besides the amusing and astonishing facts and the extensive information— and recipes— on its preparation, there are discussions of the humane treatment and killing of lobsters, and whether or not they feel pain. Lobster? It's all here: Lobster - A Global History, by Elisabeth Townsend. London: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2011. 144 pages, 40 color plates, 10 halftones. ISBN 978 1 86189 794 7, UK£9.99 RRP, US$15.95. Distributed in the USA by The University of Chicago Press. —by Tom Brosnahan
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