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Comment by lightbyte | Hacker News Reader

>like lobster going from "inedible" to haut cuisine due to scarcity.

Lobster didn't go from inedible to highly desirable because of scarcity. It's because we learned that when you kill the lobster and let it sit around for days it very quickly decomposes and releases ammonia, which tends to taste like cat piss. If you cook it immediately after killing it it actually tastes good.

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> If you cook it immediately after killing it it actually tastes good.

I believe we actually cook it before killing it (boil alive).

Some people do, I believe generally the most acceptable (and humane) method is to spike the brain of the lobster before boiling it.

https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/vvq7k4/how-chefs-pre...

Frozen lobster is also not cooked. Sometimes it's death by freezing, if they're not killed another way first (for instance, frozen lobster tails are obviously killed before being cut). I'm quite certain boiling alive is one of the least common ways it's done, especially with the popularity of frozen lobster.

Depends on locality. I was a chef in the American Northeast and I worked with plenty of live lobsters, even at some mid-priced restaurants. I don't think people in Kansas have quite the same luxury, but I do remember seeing tanks when I lived out in the Midwest as well. Where I'm at though, there's plenty of live sea-food available for purchase through the year.

As a Midwesterner, I can verify that in the more populated areas it's possible to get them. Live lobsters are a bit on the expensive side, but not prohibitively so.

10 years or so ago, Walmarts in Kansas had live lobster tanks in the grocery area.

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