lobster

[victor steinbok]

One of the latest stories on Consumerist retells Zabar's "apology" for
misleading consumers for 20 years. Of course, that, in itself, does not have
an ADS hook. But there is a hook!

http://goo.gl/MqgOJ

> "Crayfish are known locally as lobsters or crawdads or mudbugs',"
> 83-year-old owner Saul Zabar told 1010 WINS. The blend "consists of
> wild-caught crayfish and occasionally when we could get them we'd also add
> langoustine, some mayonnaise a little bit of salt, a drop of sugar and we've
> been calling this lobster salad."
>
> The charm of the story failed to work wonders on the Maine Lobster Council,
> who gave the deli a call. Since then, Zabar's has changed the name on the
> label to "Seafarer Salad." However, the label on the shelf remains "Lobster
> Salad." Why?
>


The bottom line is that Zabar's has been pretending to sell lobster when
they were actually selling crayfish, with an occasional mix-in of
langostinos. Red Lobster has got in trouble some time ago when they were
passing langostinos for "lobster". So they solved the problem by using what
they thought was a different English name for langostinos--"rock lobster".
Langostinos and langoustine are the same thing and the OED claims they are
identical with "Dublin prawn". "Rock lobster", on the other hand, has a
completely different definition:

rock lobster n. any of various spiny lobsters or marine crayfish
> constituting the family Palinuridae, esp. of the genera Palinurus,
> Panulirus, and Jasus.
>


So, according to the OED, at least one kind of crayfish is identified with
one kind of "lobster". Spiny lobsters and marine crayfish are quite
distinct, so I am not sure what's going on here in terms of crustacean
taxonomy, but there are enough complications here to wonder if Zabar's
explanation really is completely sincere.

But it gets more complicated.

OED "crayfish" does cover lobster--and even crab, although that particular
entry is rather weak (the identification is between various spellings, such
as crauys and crevise, with Latin "cancer", which is not the same thing as
identity with "crab"). The problem is that these entries run out at the
beginning of 18th century. Under "current use", we get 3.b.:

With London fishmongers and generally on the sea-coast of Great Britain: The
> Spiny Lobster, Palinurus vulgaris, the Langouste of the French.
>

But that's the wrong direction--this explains why someone might refer to
langoustines or lobsters as "crayfish", not vice versa.

Going in the other direction, under lobster 1.a., OED covers genus Homarus,
which is what the Maine lobster is all about. Also included are other large
crustaceans that resemble them. Then, there is 1.b.:

Applied with qualification to other crustaceans resembling the above.
> Norway lobster n. Nephrops norvegicus.  spiny lobster n. (also thorny
> lobster) Palinurus vulgaris = crayfish n. 3b. Some crayfishes are called
> fresh-water lobsters.
>


If this is the case, Zabar's could have got away with just changing the name
to "spiny lobster salad". Is /not/ doing so an admission of guilt? FDA might
have something to say about that still. But, as far as general taxonomy is
concerned, the OED fails to distinguish between langoustines, spiny
lobsters, rock lobsters and various marine crayfish because any two of them
are linked under different entries. This needs to be cleaned up. They don't
all mean the same thing.

VS-)

PS: I should note that last time I was at Zabar's, they had samples of
"lobster salad" and I tried it. I asked one of the guys at the counter if
this was really lobster because it tasted more like ... langostinos (taste,
texture and size of pieces were all way off). He responded that it was "like
a small lobster", so it was pointless to argue. But I dropped the subject
and did not think about it until I saw this story. Had no one else noticed
in 20 years?? Or is this like going into a small restaurant and getting
nameless cola when asking for "coke"? (That's something else I experienced
just this week--legally, they could be liable if they don't correct the
customer's request.)

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