The moment you realize you really are in a different region...

[ecosophia]

...is when a bus rolls past, and on the side is an McDumpster ad for lobster rolls.



Lobster salad on a hoagie roll as fast food. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more... ;-)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Kind of tasty? My mouth is watering, just looking at it... One of the very few things I miss about Southern California is the cheap, good seafood easily available. (Especially in sushi form.)

Cheers-
--Laura

[ecosophia]

Oh, I get that. We have good sushi available here; after eight years in the sushi desert of the Appalachians, that's very welcome indeed.

[neonvincent]

Welcome to New England. I spent two summers in the northern and western suburbs of Boston on either side of 1980 and, as a fellow former West Coaster, I can tell you that the culture shock would be even greater as the dialect and cuisine is even more distinct there -- tonic for soda/pop, frappe for shake, dungarees for jeans. I don't know if those were as frequently used in Rhode Island. As for food, have you tried the Italian yet?

[ecosophia]

Hmm! I haven't yet encountered any of those, though a water fountain here is a bubbler, and tomato sauce is called gravy.

[neonvincent]

Bubbler for drinking fountain I'd heard while staying in Greater Boston. Gravy for tomato sauce is one I don't remember. It may be a Rhode Island thing.

[(Anonymous)]

It's a Rhode Island thing, but it's rare even in RI.

We call hoagies "grinders", and some of us still distinguish between a frappe and a milkshake (the former has ice cream). Real old timers still call milkshakes "cabinets", because the syrup (for flavoring, usually coffee flavored, made by the Autocrat company!) came from a cabinet. A "coffee cabinet" is the drink you order when you want to be taken seriously in certain age/ethnic circles.

The state did a tourism slogan competition back in the 80s, and the highest voted (but administratively rejected) entry was "Rhode Island: Mobsters and Lobsters". We saw the Boaty McBoatface thing coming from miles away.

Ah, Rhode Island. Full of charm. Never change.

- Olive

lobster as junk food

[(Anonymous)]

I've read that in colonial times lobster was so plentiful and cheap that apprentice documents limited how often a master could serve it.

Re: lobster as junk food

[ecosophia]

Yep. I could live with an apprentice's share...

Re: lobster as junk food

[(Anonymous)]

Up until about a hundred years ago, lobster was "trash fish" in Atlantic Canada, and used primarily for fertiliser. Only the really poor folks ate appreciable amounts of the stuff.

And by the by, we've had Mc Lobster sandwiches in this part of the world for as long as I can remember. Doesn't have me running to McD's though...

[dufu]

Enjoy them while you still can, John!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_acidification#Rate

I'll be back in New England soon, and I'm planning to have one every day... something to tell my grandkids about.

[ecosophia]

The interesting thing is that right now, at least, lobsters are expanding their range significantly along the Atlantic coast due to changes in sea temperature. They've survived multiple periods of oceanic acidification in the past -- that happens from time to time for natural reasons, as well as by human stupidity -- so I suspect they'll be around long after I am.

[(Anonymous)]

I've known some Southern New England fishermen. They refer to them as "ocean roaches" and while harvesting lobsters is a welcome part of the annual income they would never eat one. I think they get a kick out of rich summer folk paying top dollar for what locals consider a disgusting bottom feeder.

Supposedly lobster pots are a great way to dispose of a body.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, the locals eat 'em too, make no mistake. :)

Trash never tasted so good.

- Olive

[(Anonymous)]

I'm perplexed as well. I'm attempting to triangulate here. Lobster, which immediately suggests Maine or at least the Northeast, plus hoagie, a word not generally used north (or south or west) of Philadelphia. Jersey Shore? Wherever it is, I hope you're having fun and eating healthy.

[ecosophia]

Follow the coast until you're halfway between Maine and the Jersey Shore, and you'll be pretty close to Rhode Island -- and that's where I am these days.

Total 100% Yummo!

[ferngladefarm.blogspot.com.au]

Hi JMG,

You are in sea food heaven (or is that haven?)! I'm not saying that the lobster roll looks good, but yummo! Down here there is a restaurant which I sometimes frequent by the name of P'Oh boy which serves Southern American food. It is quite tasty and the P'Oh boy (short for Poor boy) rolls look a lot like that except they have 12 hour slow cooked pulled pork. Far out, I'm salivating thinking about all this food. Yum! Home made pizza for dinner this evening cooked in the solar powered electric oven. Hey, did you spot the frozen pizza road accident debacle in your country the other day? Imagine a road closed off due to excess pizza and you'll get my drift. :-)! I once saw a truck carrying a load of bananas up north of this country and the ethylene gas from the bananas had obviously ignited and the trailer had caught fire.

Cheers

Chris

[smwils1]

I've never had the American version, but I've had the Canadian version @ a Truck Stop on TCH-1 in New Brunswick...

[(Anonymous)]

I'd be suspicious. Looks to me a lot like extruded fish paste with imitation lobster flavor.