很难想象，今天价格不菲的龙虾，曾经并不是身份的象征。它为何从无人青睐的海产，变成代表财富与地位的奢侈品？这场百年逆袭，揭开了一道美食背后的历史故事。
If you wanted to diss someone in the 1700s, try calling them a lobster.
Lobsters were often compared to insects, sometimes being referred to as the cockroach of the sea.
The word lobster might even trace back to the Old English word loppe, meaning spider.
Shellfish such as lobster, crabs, and even oysters were all once considered a poor man's food and were something only to be eaten out of desperation.
So how did some of the most disrespected creatures in the ocean become the ultimate symbol of luxury today?
It wasn't a straight climb, or claw, to the top.
It's more of a loop, with shellfish going from luxury to survival food and back again.
Long before lobster became a colonial insult or a food of desperation, it was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome.
Oysters were similarly prized and associated with wealth and access.
Writers like Pliny the Elder raved about oysters and other shellfish as luxury foods, saying "it is hardly possible to say enough about them, for they have held first rank as a table delicacy for a long time." Romans would even import them from Britain and other parts of Europe.
