Style over substance

Four score and seven years ago... or maybe more like 18 months ago we were visiting some friends in Maine and ended up with fresh lobster - straight from the pod - for dinner. Never having tried lobster myself, but familiar with its importance on the menu in high priced restaurants, I was looking forward to find out what all the fuss is about.

An hour later I was glad we only paid $10 for the lobster. If there is ever an example of style over substance, of overpaying for mediocrity, lobster would be it. And it brought to mind this article from The Economist magazine from July 2004:

"Lobster has long been known as a luxury food. But in colonial days in North America the crustacean was so plentiful and cheap that it was used to feed prisoners and indentured servants in place of valuable cod and mackerel. One group of Massachusetts servants became so fed up with their diet of lobster that they took their owners to court and won a judgment that it not be served to them more than three times a week."

If I am ever served lobster and charged more than $10 for it, I may have to follow the example set by the servants from Massachusetts. And I have a feeling they couldn't have cared less that lobster is now viewed as an expensive, high-status delicacy. Style over substance. How about a $37 000 Hermès handbag?