Lobsters, revisited
I wrote recently here about an episode of America’s Test Kitchen in which they killed then cooked a lobster. I was surprised when the director of the show, Herb Sevush, took the time to write a detailed and thoughtful response, which I will reprint so it appears on the main page, and not hidden in the comments.
I�m glad to hear you are enjoying ATK. But if you�re upset about the lobster I�m pretty much the guy to blame.
You�d be amazed at how much time we spent discussing and debating the different ways of killing the lobsters. The way we showed you is much faster and more �humane� than boiling or freezing a lobster to death. The other problem is that we were pan broiling it and both pre-boiling or pre-freezing would have ruined the dish. We discussed starting with the lobster already cut up, but as you�re probably aware the ATK style is to show, in detail, how a dish should be prepared at home. The cutting of the lobster was too important to skip.
We know that some people are offended by the way it looks when we cut them up, especially the twitching that occurs well after they are dead. The problem is an even larger number of people like to eat lobster, and this being the most delicious lobster recipe I�ve ever tried, we wanted to present it.
So, with me leading the way, we just went for it. It�s my own opinion that eating something you’re too disgusted to watch being prepared is the height of hypocrisy. For those who don�t eat lobster and were turned off, what can I say other than we won�t do it again any time soon. Although we will break an egg from time to time.
I�m glad you liked the new science segments. We�ve been trying to come up with the right way to do science for years and then our producer discovered Odd-Todd. I think he�s a major talent.
Again, thanks for watching, and I hope the rest of this season�s offerings don�t cause you such difficulty.
Herb Sevush
Director
I was glad to learn that the method they depicted was in fact more humane than boiling (the method decried by David Foster Wallace in the Gourmet article I linked to in the original post). I was not actually surprised to learn that the staff had spent a lot of time discussing and debating both whether to show the recipe and how to do so. I have been reading Cook’s Illustrated for over ten years. I’m a huge fan of their thorough approach to food in general and recipes in particular. I took the online name of Girl Detective because I’m naturally curious, but when someone else does such a thorough job of investigating something that interests me (in this case, food), then I can trust in their work and spend my time cooking and eating, not experimenting.
I agree with Sevush’s point that it’s hypocrisy to eat something I refuse to see killed. My modern, non-agrarian life keep me insulated from the means of producing food. Sevush’s letter was a good reminder that I should put my food ethics where my squeamishness is, or get over it. I haven’t eaten lobster since seeing the episode and am not sure if I will again. If I do, though, I will now be fully cognizant of what happened on the way to my plate. And for that heightened consciousness, I thank both America’s Test Kitchen and Herb Sevush.
February 15th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
What a strange coincidence - I just read an article on cnn.com today about a study done in Norway to test whether or not lobsters feel pain when boiled.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/02/15/lobster.pain.ap/index.html
February 16th, 2005 at 9:13 pm
Jennifer, I watched that episode of ATK right after my friend Blogenheimer had linked to the David Foster Wallace article. I think the universe is trying to tell us something about lobsters! (If only, perhaps, that they are delicious, as Sevush notes.)
February 17th, 2005 at 10:07 pm
This is what I get for catching up and reading backward, but have you had a chance to read what Julie of the Julie/Julia project wrote about her experience in killing lobsters, and the ethical dilemmas she wrestled with? It’s very much in line with this post.
February 19th, 2005 at 1:38 pm
Here’s a link to a lobster post at Julie/Julia.
http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/11/04.html#a63
I loved the idea for Julie/Julia, but so often the food sounded so complicated, and often downright icky. I like to cook only because it so often pays off in the end with delicious food to be eaten. So much of the food she wrote about sounded hard to make, very dirty-dish generating, and not that good to eat.