[4] According to the English food writer Nigel Slater, the prawn cocktail "has spent most of (its life) see-sawing from the height of fashion to the laughably passé" and is now often served with a degree of irony.

"[15] As Hopkinson and Bareham note in The Prawn Cocktail Years, what was once considered to be the "Great British Meal" consisted of prawn cocktail, followed by steak garni with chips and Black Forest gateau for dessert; they comment that "cooked as it should be, this much-derided and often ridiculed dinner is still something very special indeed.

"[16] Before the 1992 British general election,[17] the Labour Party campaigned to win the support of business and financial leaders by persuading them that they would not interfere with the market economy.

Seafood cocktails often include lime juice and a tomato based sauce and are sometimes served with lemon.

In the US, they are regulated by the FDA which requires the proportions by weight to be stated when the dish is sold in a prepared form.