Did you know that, a few centuries ago, seafood was much cheaper than meat, especially in places close to the sea? New York was once said to be the largest oyster harvesting plantation, with reefs covering hundreds of square meters and oysters as big as a plate. That’s why seafood was used to bulk up dishes when there wasn’t quite enough meat. Old recipes contain many exotic surf-and-turf combinations, such as Spanish paella with rabbit and calamari, British beef and oyster pie, pigeon with lobster tail, and Philadelphia fish cake dogs.