Have you ever eaten a lobster in front of your kids before?  As full-fledged lobster lovers, on a recent camping trip in Maine, we decided to take as much advantage of being in lobster land to eat it up.  And that seemed like a good plan until we were sitting at the table, about to dig in, and the discussion started.

First, the horror that about 5 minutes prior, this was alive.

*sigh*

As I’m digging lobster flesh out of its tail, my daughter is telling me about how she thinks the lobster was sad about dying.  I tried to convince her that lobster brains are very small and they don’t feel the complex emotions that she does.  Little does she know her father killed it!

Next, they take a closer look at my dinner.  We tend to grill our lobster, which makes it deliciously creamy and cooks really quickly.  To do that, you chop the lobster in half.  What ends up happening, though, is the visual of all the yucky green stuff and internal organs.  At home, we might do a quick rinse, but at a campsite, this level of cleanliness isn’t attainable.  So while the lobster tail is easy to get to, you pick around a bit.  To the shock and horror of my children.  Who start to convulse in the utter disgusting-ness of what I’m eating.  So much for not yucking my yum.

And, when you think about it, can you imagine the first person that decided to eat a lobster?  Like what level of hunger did that person get to eat this crawling beast?  Can you imagine the trial and error to find out the edible bits? I digress.

Then, of course, the taste test.  Yes, its horrible this was a living beast moments ago that your father put a knife through.  Yes, there are green bits all through out.  But then you dip it in butter and its wonderful, we told my daughter.  Being the adventurous sort that she is, she gave it a try!  And nearly threw up on my husband’s lobster.  Not just gagging, but full on retching.  Why he insists on sharing the very best food with our kids, I’ll never understand.  It’s just going to cost us more money if they fall in love it like we did.  But he does, and he nearly lost his plate of lobster because not only did she not like it, but it almost made her throw up her previously eaten hot dog on his plate of delicious-ness.

Have you been harassed by your children while trying to enjoy something?  Or have a great lobster story to tell?