There was a really nice article in the Boston Globe the other day about how Mainers are pulling together to help support the lobster fishermen through this rough season - from advertising topless waitresses (as a joke) to lure in diners to selling lobsters in school parking lots on Saturdays. One Bangor chef, Brian Ross, is posting lobster recipes on a nonprofit website to help inspire sales. At a first glance, the recipes look great. I'll try some of them when I'm back in Cutler over the holidays and provide details on any that I particularly like.
The article also noted that while Maine is the country's lobster capital...that doesn't mean Mainers eat more (lobster) than anybody else. Until recently, lobster has been costly here, too. And the delicacy generally has been reserved for special occasions and summertime visitors.
"Most Mainers don't have it as a regular meal," said Cary Weston, a Bangor marketing consultant who helped start the website with Ross's recipes. "It's considered a meal of summertime celebration, family reunions, that kind of thing. It's a meal that Mainers fix because they have out-of-state guests who think that's what you're supposed to do."
I smiled at that comment, as growing up friends and family "from away" tended to think we feasted on lobster every night for dinner. It's a question I'm still asked today...so, you must of eaten lobster all the time growing up, didn't you? The reality was, every time my father brought a lobster home, that was one less lobster he could sell, so he didn't do it very often. We used to have lobster when we had company and my father always brought home lobsters from the first catch of the season. Beyond that, we mostly ate meat and potatoes for dinner.
That said, now that I live away and only get home a handful of times a year, I eat lots of lobsters at home. I guess that's the benefit of now being the guest! I'm really looking forward to trying a few of the lobster recipes on the site and, as I mentioned, I'll report on any I find particularly delicious.
Finally, the article indicated that the "Lobster for Thanksgiving" push did have a significant positive effect, driving volumes three times those of the same period last November.
To read more recent updates on the Maine lobster fishing season, click here.
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