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Lobstah Impostah
First, animal-rights groups got the little red lobster dropped from the Maine license plate. Now, a cheap shrimplike crab is muscling out the real deal. An Associated Press wire story about the use of “imposter lobster” got plenty of play this week, showing up on the websites of The Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian UK, The Sacramento Bee, and elsewhere.
Seems the regally named Maine senator Olympia Snowe is ready to throw a few thunderbolts to protect her state’s most iconic and lucrative industry. Turns out fast-food outlets like Red Lobster, Long John Silver’s, and Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill are using a small South American crab dubbed “langostino lobster” (from the Spanish word for “prawn”) as a stand-in for the more expensive Homarus Americanus.
Snowe’s goal? To get the FDA to reverse its decision to allow the term “langostino lobster” on restaurant menus, assuming that most Americans, unfamiliar with the term “langostino,” will simply zero in on the word “lobster” and assume they’re getting the real thing. Or, as Snowe insists, “Use of this term is misleading to consumers and unfairly affiliates langostino with actual lobster to the detriment of the lobster industry in Maine.”
The FDA’s agreement came as part of an out-of-court settlement last year with Rubio’s, which got busted for using langostino, not lobster, in its highly touted but too-cheap-to-be-true lobster burrito.
But Down Easters aren’t the only ones seeing red over lobsters. Down in Boston, Globe columnist Brian McGrory is insulted by the new campaign by the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, which implies that only Maine-caught lobsters are “real” lobsters. Writes McGrory,
So what they’re saying is that the men and women who work out of Cohasset, Scituate, Rockport, Hingham, Gloucester, people who go out in cold and heat, sun and rain, on seas that are calm and rough, that they’re hauling up pretend lobsters?
McGrory goes on to conduct a blind taste test with three top Boston chefs, offering up side-by-side forkfuls from each state. Amazingly, all three chefs can tell which is the Maine product and which the Massachusetts. The verdict? Maine is saltier, Massachusetts is sweeter. But they’re both real lobster.
Posted by | Friday, October 6, 2006 at 6:47am | 3 comments
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Why does the langostino chess piece lose to the Maine lobster chess piece?
Because the langostino is only a prawn.
http://www.pitofmystomach.typepad.com
I've never seen this South American version but it's most certainly not a crab and langostino does *NOT* translate to prawn. I figure that it's closely related to the Norway lobster which is often known by the Italian name of scampo... scampi in the usual plural, as it is generally served.
There is of course a problem here in that nomenclature of such species is often applied loosely in various countries... as often as not initially corrupted by marketing "needs", e.g. "prawn scampi" in the U.S. which is really a ridiculous misnomer, though apparently the name scampi is applied to large shrimps and prawns in many countries, including Italy. In the U.K., according to food labeling laws scampi is required to be Norway lobster... also known in France as langoustine.
As to the beast itself, it is somewhat like a small lobster with two claws and the tail flesh is closer in taste and texture to lobster or crayfish than prawn, though in my opinion, it is more delicate and I much prefer it to lobster. In France they are served whole, say a half-dozen as a starter, and are, of course, more troublesome to eat than a single lobster tail but well worth the bother.
As for Maine's complaint, it has some validity in that it is not what is generally understood to be lobster, in Europe or the U.S. - like I said, to me it's better; then again the notion that Maine has exclusivity on the use of "lobster" is absurd. The best solution (unlikely) would be for Americans to become familiar with the delights of langoustines/scampi/Norway lobster... and for everyone everywhere to quit confusing them with prawns. I'd love to be able to find langoustines in the local fish market/store, or even frozen.
I personally can't stand Maine Lobster and never realized there was a difference until I tried Australian Rock Lobster, which are simply incredible.
Our local Savemart carries langostino lobster and I buy them regularly.
You can read more about them at:
Langostino Bites & Recipes
http://reliableanswers.com/kitchen/la...