(The strings float up, like lines without buoys, from the lobsters’ anchor-like claws.) Tying cuts of meat and wrapping whole birds with twine helps them keep their shape, which makes for tidier ...

A label on the ball, from the 1970s, claims that the string was saved from bundles of 19,794,950 napkins over the course of nearly 50 years and that, if unraveled, it would stretch for 337-1/2 miles.