Lobster used to be served as prison food and used as fish bait. Here's how some savvy marketing schemes in the 1800s and 1900s gave lobster, calamari, and Chilean sea bass the glow-ups they needed to become so loved. AdvertisementChilean sea bass is actually called Patagonian toothfishChilean sea bass is a top-dollar fish typically sold at ritzy restaurants alongside other luxury items like foie gras and caviar. But the name "toothfish" wasn't very marketable, so Lantz gave it a much more exclusive-sounding name: the Chilean sea bass — and Americans ate it right up. AdvertisementAnd when more popular fish became less available in the early 1970s, politicians and conservationists realized they needed a way to convince Americans to eat more plentiful fish like squid, the Times reported.

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Persons: —, Mother Jones, Lee Lantz, Lantz, Priceonomics Organizations: Service, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Business, Pacific, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Times, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Locations: Chilean, North America, New England, Massachusetts Bay, East Coast, California, South America, Chile, Europe