calamari | Well-Fed Redhead

These two made an appearance in class today:

Today was another day I went hungry because it was seafood day at the Natural Gourmet Institute. I’ve never eaten seafood before (except lobster ravioli once when I was 8) and I wasn’t too keen on trying it today. The thing that skeeves me out about seafood is that it’s all alive when you cook it (and some you eat raw/alive like clams and oysters). People go crazy over seafood though, so it really must be amazing and I’m probably missing out.

Steamed muscles in a white wine butter sauce with red peppers and onion.

Has anyone read Hunter S. Thompson’s “Consider the Lobster”? (you can read it here.) I had to read it for class when I was in undergrad and I found the history and anatomy of lobster really interesting. Did you know that lobster was originally considered “poor man’s food” and served to prisoners? Today it’s a very expensive delicacy! The article also goes into detail about the argument over whether or not lobsters can feel pain. The article basically concludes that while lobsters do not have the same type of cerebral cortex that feels pain as we do, they have a different anatomy that gives them the ability to suffer living in captivity and to feel pain when boiled alive or killed. Here is a picture of the lobster we had in class today posing with my classmate Rachel!

Another fun lobster fact, did you know that they are in the same family as spiders? You can tell by their eight legs! If you put your finger in between it’s toes (NOT CLAWS), the lobster will kind of pinch your finger in a cute way. I got a little too familair with Mr. Krabs here to be okay with what happened next…

The Chef unceremoniously ripped off the lobster’s claws, chopped it’s back in half while it was still alive and then decapitated it. Even if lobsters don’t feel pain (which I don’t necessarily believe) that is not a nice way to go. The claws were boiled separately and the rest of the body was pan-seared in olive oil and then flambeed with brandy before cold butter was added. It’s so interesting how the lobster is mostly black/green but turns red when cooked.