NEVER COOKING A LOBSTER AGAIN

Awhile back my brother came to visit me in Belgium from South Sudan for 2 weeks over the Christmas vacation. Whenever he's here we try to hit up as many restaurants and cafes as possible so that he's well fed and happy when he goes back to work. We also tried something new when he was here which turned out delicious...but traumatising. 

Rory and I in Brussels!

Seafood treat in Brussels square.

De Foyer in Gent

One of his favorite places to visit is Bruges, especially during Christmas, when the markets are out...as well as a million tourists.

Rory and the Christmas Market

;)

After visiting the markets, enjoying some wine and steak, and loading the car with chocolate to bring back, my brother had the genius idea to cook fresh lobster for dinner. I love lobster (any seafood) but had never cooked a live one before; i had heard stories from friends that its not the nicest experience.

But we went to CRU in Gent, picked a large crustacean and brought it back to Geraardsbergen.

Prep underway

When we got home my brother looked up a basic recipe to cook the lobster with a garlic butter dipping sauce and champagne. Bert arrived and was very excited about the prospect of an amazing meal... at the same time I was growing increasingly attached to the lobster and was now wishing i had not agreed to this.

My brother had started to notice my unease with the idea that we would have to boil this poor creature alive and suggested that we either 1)bring it back to the store or 2) free it the wild... neither of which were real solutions. And Bert was waaaay to invested in the thought of enjoying fresh lobster and butter sauce.

So on top of finding a good recipe, meal preparation, we also had to find the most humane way to kill a poor lobster. We decided to put the poor thing in the freezer, where it would "fall asleep" and wouldn't suffer after being tossed into a pot of boiling water.

After 30 minutes, we took him out and Bert put a knife into its carapace (exoskeleton on the lobsters back behind its eyes) just to make sure that it was dead and wouldn't suffer. We then placed it headfirst (this is important) into the water and let it cook for 7 minutes.

After the (lobster) kill

Our meal :)

All in all it was an amazing feast but I was unable to finish it because i felt a bit sick after everything. I am happy that I had this experience because I think that if you do choose to eat meat or seafood that you should know where your food comes from and should have to prepare it. This is in no way to shame people who eat meat or to praise vegetarians and vegans, but we should be more conscious of what we eat and where we get it from. Bert and I have the LUXURY of choosing to rarely eat meat and fish (special occasions) and go to a butcher or fishery to pick up what we want. We realise that a lot of people do not have access to healthy food (economically/location/food deserts etc) and rely on chain stores, industrial meat production etc. But it is always important (especially if you're privileged to make choices) to think about how your diet affects the environment, if you're supporting a cruelty free business, and not wasting what you have. 

I have included a video of how to humanely cook and prepare a lobster if anyone would like to try it! Thanks for reading!

#sharmafarmfoodie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPk28ThCzo