Sure, maybe the class-based issues made it less likely that people would be willing to try even lobster done right, but I don't think lobster as it was once served would have much more success today.
I know years ago only the poor kids ate lobster, if you had a lobster sandwich at school you were taunted. First Nations people here used to use lobsters as fertilizer for their crops.
There are a lot of lobster fishermen in my region, my uncle and cousins fish lobster, right now there is a glut of lobster and processing plants have put restrictions on how much they will accept from fishermen. This was after a strike by fishermen last month trying to force processors to give them $5/pound but after a few weeks of being on strike they're only going to get $3/pound.
I know it's a living creature but it's pretty basic as far as intelligence goes I don't eat it but a knife to the brain or instant death in boiling water doesn't seem too cruel, not nice but not cruel. People eat oysters live, boil mussles and crabs alive and they're not too far from a lobster.
Some supermarkets in Germany won't allow lobsters unless they have been killed using a special machine: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/05/03/pei-lobst...
That's because they basically are, since crustaceans are likely more closely related to proper insects than millipedes, centipedes, and arachnids are.
Well, I guess that's valid for pretty much all food from dead animal origin
They cooked lobster alive back then (1930s), so the cooked dead thing must be region specific.
there's a difference though between "just-killed fresh" and "cooked alive fresh". i would prefer the former without hesitation. though canned is def not a great alternative.
http://www.cookingissues.com/2012/07/04/how-to-become-a-seaf...;