Lobster went from prison food to luxury flex

This is a two-panel comparison meme. The top panel is labeled '1700s', featuring a Wojak character dressed in 18th century colonial official uniform, saying 'Lobster again? We feed this to prisoners.' next to a stock photo of a cooked red lobster. The bottom panel is labeled '1900s', featuring the same Wojak character edited to wear early 20th century formal business attire and a bowler hat, saying 'This is a luxury delicacy.' next to the same lobster photo. The meme comically illustrates the well-documented historical shift in lobster's perceived value, from an overly abundant, low-status food used as prison rations in 18th century North America to an expensive, high-status luxury food item by the 20th century.

Make

Dialogue

1700s: "Lobster again? We feed this to prisoners."

1900s: "This is a luxury delicacy."

Overview

This is a two-panel comparison meme. The top panel is labeled '1700s', featuring a Wojak character dressed in 18th century colonial official uniform, saying 'Lobster again? We feed this to prisoners.' next to a stock photo of a cooked red lobster. The bottom panel is labeled '1900s', featuring the same Wojak character edited to wear early 20th century formal business attire and a bowler hat, saying 'This is a luxury delicacy.' next to the same lobster photo. The meme comically illustrates the well-documented historical shift in lobster's perceived value, from an overly abundant, low-status food used as prison rations in 18th century North America to an expensive, high-status luxury food item by the 20th century.

Origin notes

This meme was sourced from the Reddit Meme community via RSS feed. It uses the widely popular Wojak meme character as a base, edited to wear period-appropriate clothing for each historical era, paired with stock images of lobster to convey its core point. The fact the meme references is a commonly shared trivia point about North American culinary history that has been the subject of many viral online jokes.