Lobster was considered a low class food because it goes bad extremely fast once dead, i.e. within 24 hours even if properly refrigerated, and so it'd only be fe

Lobster was considered a low class food because it goes bad extremely fast once dead, i.e. within 24 hours even if properly refrigerated, and so it'd only be fed to people like prisoners who had no other choice. The popularity of lobster went up first when canning technology allowed boats to cook and package them up immediately after they were caught but they were still a cheap source of protein. It didn't become the delicacy it is today until after the great depression when the economics allowed fishermen to specialize in lobster fishing and keep them alive until they reached the customer. That set of circumstances is difficult to repeat for other species