Why cooking lobster alive

So boiling lobsters, not a very good idea. New Zealand and Switzerland certainly agree. Should America follow suit? World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options.

Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. They delivered small electric shocks to hermit crabs, who live in empty snail shells.

Some of the crabs left their shell, although they were more likely to leave if their shell was from an unpreferred species — they appeared to feel they had less to lose.

In another experiment, shore crabs learned to avoid a location in which they had received an electric shock. Is he convinced crustaceans can feel pain? Other scientists are less sure. The problem has more to do with how we anthropomorphise various critters. Steneck has been studying lobsters since in the waters around Maine, the north-eastern-most US state.

It is home to 1. Maine — and the coastline north of it, in Canada — is the sweet spot for lobsters, he says, thanks to its cool water. What is surprising, says Steneck, is how sustainable the practice appears to be. Lobsters are fascinating creatures.

I was always taught to do this as a young apprentice and continue to teach my chefs this and always will. Jack Stein, chef director at Rick Stein Restaurants, adds that cooking a lobster has been a issue in the industry for quite some time. While Sergey Men, chef patron at Bisushima, says his restaurant always kills a lobster before cooking.

Any produce is best prepared as fresh as possible, but we believe that slaughtering before cooking does not affect taste or quality. Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam Metro. Pret is launching its Christmas sandwich today. Think about it too long and you might just decide that you'd prefer to have a nice piece of tofu instead. But, today, seafood-lovers, you're going to learn exactly why lobsters must be cooked alive, and it turns out there's a very good reason for it.

In short, we cook lobsters alive to minimize getting sick from them. According to Science Focus , the flesh of lobsters, crabs, and other shellfish is full of bacteria that can be harmful to humans if ingested.