Lobster Roll
Maine Office of Tourism
Through the summer months along Route 1 in Wiscasset, a long line of people forms outside Red’s Eats. While the food shack’s fried clams, fried scallops, and crab cakes are popular, there is one indisputable favorite: the lobster roll.
Though many people associate them with Maine, the origin of the lobster roll is murky. Some food historians say English and Portuguese mariners should get the credit for placing discarded tail and claw meat between pieces of bread centuries ago, but a restaurant in Connecticut named Perry’s is most frequently cited as the birthplace.
There isn’t agreement on what constitutes a lobster roll, either. For the “Connecticut style” lobster roll, the meat is served warm with butter, but Maine’s tradition is to serve the meat cold with mayonnaise. The debate over which style is best can get heated, but there’s no doubt of their status in Maine: they are ubiquitous at lobster shacks, fine dining restaurants, food trucks, fast-food chains, gas stations, grocery stores, and backyard barbecues. For many visitors, eating a lobster roll is as much a part of a Maine vacation as visiting a lighthouse.
