"No Respect for Life"... Restaurant Places 'Crown' on Moving Lobster

"No Minimum Respect for Life" Criticism

At a restaurant in Seoul, a lobster with its body cut off is being served at a customer's table while still moving, adorned with a crown and floral decorations, sparking controversy. Critics say this shows a complete lack of basic respect for life in the way the food is prepared and consumed.

[Photo by Online Community]

On the 23rd, a video titled "The lobster restaurant causing an uproar on Instagram" was posted on multiple online communities. The video was filmed at a lobster specialty restaurant in Seoul and shows a couple who met on a dating program visiting the restaurant and dining. On their table was a lobster with its body severed but still moving, with a crown decoration on its head and a flower on one claw and an envelope that appeared to contain a card on the other claw.

The people in the video reacted with fascination, saying "It's moving." In particular, the man in the video posted on his Instagram, "The live lobster greeted us with a wave," adding, "Then it took responsibility for our stomachs as butter-grilled steamed lobster. Thank you."

Netizens who saw the video had mixed reactions. Some expressed curiosity and said, "It looks interesting, I want to try it," and "It looks delicious," but the majority responded negatively. They commented, "It shows no respect for life," "Crustaceans also feel pain, this is too cruel," and "What is the intention behind putting a crown on a struggling lobster?"

South Korea's current Animal Protection Act defines animals as "vertebrates with a developed nervous system capable of feeling pain." Accordingly, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish are covered by the Animal Protection Act, but invertebrates such as crustaceans, including lobsters, are not subject to the law.

On the other hand, in some foreign countries, there have been many claims that invertebrates, including crustaceans, can feel pain, leading to regulations under animal protection laws on how to cook live invertebrates. The main point is to avoid causing unnecessary pain to invertebrates by, for example, stunning live lobsters and octopuses before placing them in boiling water.

Switzerland was the first country in the world to ban the cooking of live crustaceans in 2018 and also prohibited transporting lobsters on ice. Subsequently, Norway, New Zealand, Austria, some states in Australia, and the United Kingdom introduced similar regulations. Additionally, in 2017, the Italian Supreme Court fined a restaurant in Florence 5,000 euros (about 7.4 million KRW) for tying the claws of lobsters and placing them on ice.