What you don’t know about lobsters will surprise you! This summer, think twice before ordering that lobster roll. These underwater dwellers lead complex lives—searching for food, carefully tending to their eggs, and using their sensitive legs and antennae to explore the depths of the sea. We should be showing them compassion, not cutting their lives short by pulling them from their homes and boiling them alive.
Here are 14 reasons not to eat lobsters:
1. Lobsters have great memories. They recognize each other and remember past acquaintances.
2. Lobsters carry their young for nine months.
3. They can live to be 100 years old.
4. Lobsters have bunches of nerve tissue spread throughout their bodies.
5. They go on vacation, traveling more than 100 miles each year.
6. Lobsters have elaborate courtship rituals. Females initiate relationships by seeking out the males with the best burrows in the ocean.
7. Lobsters have to shed their shells in order to grow.
8. Females can carry live sperm for up to two years, until they decide that it’s time to fertilize their eggs.
9. They chew their food in their stomach.
10. They taste with their legs.
11. Lobsters can be right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous.
12. They can’t go into shock.
13. This means that lobsters can feel everything, including when they are dismembered alive.
14. Vegan lobster rolls made from hearts of palm are both delicious and sustainable—try this recipe to help save a lobster and the planet.
There are plenty of tasty vegan seafood products on the market, and many lobster dishes can be recreated using simple ingredients like hearts of palm or mushrooms. Try more lobster-free recipes: