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You can no longer boil a lobster alive in Switzerland, unless you stun it first:
The Swiss government has ordered an end to the common culinary practice of throwing lobsters into boiling water while they are still alive, ruling that they must be knocked out before they are killed.
As part of a wider overhaul of Swiss animal protection laws, Bern said that as of 1 March, "the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted". Lobsters "will now have to be stunned before they are put to death," the government order read.
According to Swiss public broadcaster RTS, only electric shock or the "mechanical destruction" of the lobster's brain will be accepted methods of stunning the animals once the new rule takes affect.
Also at BBC.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @01:31PM (12 children)
For anyone that hasn't seen this, the lobsters try to climb out of the boiling water, typically the cook holds a cover down over the pot. Is this just a reflex, or do crustaceans feel pain/agony the same way that we do?
I saw it first as a kid, along the Maine coast where it is very common. I felt bad for the lobster, and I don't think I ate any that time. Later I must have rationalized away any empathy, because I eat lobster occasionally.
Practical question, will zapping the lobster's brain before boiling have any effect on the cooked meat?
(Score: 4, Informative) by acid andy on Saturday January 13 2018, @02:21PM
Whatever thought process you went through, I struggle to see how rigorously rational it could have been.
Most meat eating in humans is mainly a monkey see, monkey do, process. The behavior is subconsciously validated through social norms.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @03:58PM (1 child)
You sir, are full of it. As soon as the lobster hits the boiling water, they die and do not move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt8YUNaKrFA [youtube.com]
Bonus points for horrific examples of dysfunctional parenting.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Saturday January 13 2018, @10:39PM
Nearly frozen lobster.
Truly fresh Lobsters and crabs do generally do move about for a second or three.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 13 2018, @05:40PM (8 children)
If the lobster is trying to get out of the water, then you've fucked up. Badly.
The water is supposed to be BOILING, not tepidly warm, not simmering. BOILING. You drop the lobster(s) one at a time into the water, HEAD FIRST. No, that little dude never makes the least effort to climb back out - he is dead, dead, DEAD in about half a second after hitting the surface of the water.
I lived in Winter Harbor, Maine, and attended two lobster festivals as a volunteer cook, in addition to a number of smaller parties and feasts. Not once did I ever see a lobster attempt to escape the pot. Where do people get these silly stories from?
Those were the days, though. Hanging out with the "Mudflat Five", spend the afternoon digging clams, send someone to town for some potatoes, butter, and corn on the cob, and send someone else down to meet the lobster boats as they come in to harbor. Start a bonfire, fill a couple pots with water, and wait for people to show up to eat. Someone almost always brought some oysters to add to the mix - some of those got cooked, others didn't.
Damn, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 13 2018, @06:11PM (7 children)
This is like how people say that lobsters "scream" when you drop them in the pot, but that "screaming" is actually some mechanical/thermodynamic action of the temperature gradient on the lobster's body (escaping air or some shit) rather than the lobster's reaction to whatever "pain" it may be feeling.
It would be equally silly to suggest that you broke your own hand just because you cracked your knuckles.
Jesus Christ, it's basically a fucking bug. A sweet, tasty bug, with lots of garlic and drawn butter. Would you feel bad for swatting a fly?
(Score: 2, Disagree) by frojack on Saturday January 13 2018, @10:42PM (1 child)
Bullshit with that temperature gradient nonsense, Next time you cook one drop it in slowly tail first. You'l change your mind in one go.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday January 15 2018, @12:13PM
No, they do not scream. They don't have lungs, for heaven's sake. The sound is produced by escaping bubbles. This isn't up for debate.
(The pain question is, of course, a totally separate matter.)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 13 2018, @10:57PM
I prefer human meat. Yum.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 13 2018, @10:57PM (3 children)
Why in the hell would you want to eat bugs when you can eat human meat?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday January 15 2018, @11:37PM (1 child)
Cause humans have bad BO...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 15 2018, @11:44PM
Mmmmh... but some of them smell... so succulent.
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(Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:52AM
The only rigorous solution to this is for you to try lobster, and for me to try human meat. Then we can compare notes.
...you first.