New Yorker interviews Steneck for article on McDonald’s Lobster Roll
The New Yorker spoke with Robert Steneck, a marine scientist at the University of Maine, for the article, “An unnatural history of the McLobster.” Consumers seem to be getting used to lobster’s presence in fast food, as this is the first time in a decade that McDonald’s has sold lobster in the U.S., according to the article. “The Gulf of Maine is a highly simplified and arguably domesticated ecosystem,” Steneck said. “If you put it that way, are you surprised that we have McLobsters?” Steneck said of the McDonald’s Lobster Roll, a limited-time offer that was served across New England this summer. Today’s lobster, Steneck said, is the product of a “brave new ocean,” in which wild-caught-lobster fisheries increasingly resemble farming, the article states. The wider embrace of lower-cost lobster does serve to diversify the lobster industry, making it more resilient to price shifts, Steneck said. When asked if he had eaten a lobster roll from McDonald’s, Steneck replied, “If I want a lobster roll, I could think of a dozen places between here and the nearest McDonald’s where I’d get it.”