The sizzling debate about whether lobsters are in agony when they’re boiled alive heated up this week.
Scientists at the University of Oslo issued a 39-page report on the topic, concluding: “Lobsters and crabs have some capacity of learning, but it is unlikely that they can feel pain.” The Norwegian government funded the study to determine whether creatures with no backbones should be included in its revised animal welfare law.
We have two thoughts:
(1) Norway has too much time on its hands.
(2) What about that noise lobsters make when they hit the hot water?
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“It’s like ‘eek!’ — like a little high-pitched squeak,” says Chris Curry, who grew up in Maine and cooks the creatures frequently. “And they’re kind of fighting back when you’re putting them in the boiling water; they’ll really flutter their tails and use their claws. That would lead you to believe they don’t want to be cooked.”
Darin Bieck, sous-chef at the Bucktown restaurant Spring, cooks several lobsters a week. He has his reservations too. “It’s the eyes,” he says. “When you see the eyes of something alive, looking around — I guess you presume there are some thoughts there.”
Bieck, considerately, kills them with a knife to the head. “So it’s basically dead instantly instead of boiling to death,” he explains. “To me, a quicker death is more humane.”
Lobsters, we feel your pain. Seafood is Norway’s second-largest export, behind oil, which makes us think this study is a little fishy.