7 ms·

I like to eat crab and lobster, but I never understood how anyone could boil one of them alive - even if it hasn't (or hadn't) been 100% proven they can feel pa

• rich_sasha 5y ago
  The theory I hear from people who do it is that the animals die instantly in thermal shock. Would be great if someone in the know could comment; I'm certainly not endorsing this view!
  • joaosardinha 5y ago
    My family does this, I remember watching them try to crawl out of the pot for the first few minutes so it's not true
    • Silasdev 5y ago
      Just picturing that makes me feel terrible
    • Dylan16807 5y ago
      Was the water boiling when they were put in?
  • karolist 5y ago
    I was around as a kid when my aunt boiled some crayfish alive. The way they run in the pot and the sound they make still haunts me to this day whenever I see these little animals. I don't need science to tell me if something feels pain or not when being boiled alive...
    • phonypc 5y ago
      The sound is expanding gas escaping their shell. They don't have lungs or vocal cords.
  • s1artibartfast 5y ago
    I have boiled a lot of lobster and crab live. In my experience, they stop twitching in 5 seconds or so. I find this method faster more humane than chopping through their carapace and rooting around their head with a knife looking to scramble their brain while they struggle. The latter is not a task I expect many home cooks to be good at. They key is to have the water at a rolling boil and have enough volume that it doesn't cool when you add a 2 lb lobster head first. I suspect a lot of the horror stories are from people who added lobster to a pot with too little water.