Have you ever ordered a lobster dish from a fancy restaurant? Lobster is considered the height of fine dining, but that hasn’t always been the case. In the 18th century, lobster was considered a highly undesirable food that wealthy families avoided. In fact, lobster was so abundant on the east coast of the U.S. that it was sold not as food but as fertilizer. It was even served in prisons. Kentucky politician John Rowan remarked, “Lobster shells around a house are looked upon as signs of poverty and degradation.”
It was the development of railways in the U.S. that transformed lobster into a luxury. Lobster was still relatively cheap and plentiful, which made it a great option to serve on trains. This was around the same time when chefs realized lobster tastes best when cooked alive. Soon, people from all over the world who had never eaten lobster or heard about the negative perceptions of it were able to try it for the first time fresh and properly prepared. The response was so positive that wealthy people wanted live lobsters shipped to their towns. As a result, the global demand for lobsters gradually increased. By the end of the 19th century, lobster had had acquired the status of a luxury food.
Did you know that sugar and salmon used to be more expensive than they are today? Sugar was rare and expensive to produce, as it was chiefly made from sugar cane grown in the Caribbean and the Americas. The production process was labor intensive, making sugar an expensive commodity. Sugar was considered a luxury food because it was primarily consumed by wealthy families with disposable income. It was used as a status symbol, a way to show off one’s wealth and sophistication.
Salmon was also scarce and difficult to obtain. Before modern fishing techniques, salmon was usually caught in rivers during the annual spawning runs, making it a seasonal food. Salmon was consumed only by those who could afford to pay the high prices charged for it.
However, sugar lost its reputation of luxury over time as people started farming it and, as a result, it became less scarce. In the case of salmon, production has increased by 384% since 1995 due to the development of the aquaculture industry, making it a food that can be enjoyed by ordinary people around the world.
Many fruits and vegetables also used to be much scarcer than they are today. Certain fruits such as strawberries used to be available only in the summer, but now we can buy them all year round. “That changes the perception of luxury,” says Peter Alexander, a senior researcher in global agriculture and food security at the University of Edinburgh.
Our strong desire for luxury and rare foods is causing big problems for the environment. When a specific type of fish or seafood becomes less available, its price goes way up. A higher price makes people fish even more, putting additional pressure on the already shrinking population. This creates a harmful cycle that could end in the extinction of the species. The planet is feeling the impact of our constant craving for luxury foods, with ecosystems being damaged and species becoming endangered. The growing demand for hard-to-find, luxury foods continues this harmful cycle and threatens many different kinds of living things. In order to reduce the damage we’re causing to the environment, it's important that we think about how often we consume these types of foods.