07/17/2024
What an amazing piece of history about the Shediac Lobster Festival and how lobster is viewed today compared to the past! 🦞
🦞 The “Lobster Queen” of the Shediac Lobster Festival in 1950. This was only the second-ever Shediac Lobster Festival. Pretty much a smash hit since day one, now, as it celebrates its 75th birthday this year, the Shediac Lobster Festival hopes to attract a mindboggling 40,000 visitors!
While the festival was beloved from the day it launched, the lobster itself had a vastly longer and more complicated road to acceptance.
At one time lobster was considered a paupers’ food, something people were embarrassed to be seen eating because it showed that they were poor.
It was fed to prisoners and slaves, used as fertilizers in fields, and as feed for pigs.
At one point servants would stipulate in their contracts that they could not be fed lobster, just to avoid having to eat the hated shellfish!
Now, of course, it's a Maritimes icon and a staple of high-end restaurants, but this most certainly was not always the case!
📰 How the lobster went from pauper food to proper food: https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/from-pauper-to-proper-the-story-of-lobster-in-the-maritimes
🎧 Or listen on the Backyard History Podcast: https://apple.co/4aLWHDZ
📸 Photo: Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P93\W\304 (colourized)
📘 ‘A brief history of the lobster’ appears in the first Backyard History book. Meanwhile, the front cover photo of the second Backyard History book was actually also taken at the Shediac Lobster Festival, on the same day as this ‘Lobster Queen’ photo! Both books are available at backyardhistory.ca/book