Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, August 16. 2023

The Big Oyster


I thought I had read all of Kurlansky's books, but I missed one of obvious interest: The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell


From the American Indians to present, with plenty of NYC and colonial history, the story of the wonderful North American oyster. A few factoids I learned: the ancient Romans farmed oysters (European oysters are an entirely different critter, however); wild oyster beds are a thing of the distant past, as are 12" oysters; French chefs introduced Americans to eating raw oysters.



Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 17:00 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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I don't eat raw oysters any more out of fear of Hepatitis. But I did order some (farm raised) smoked oysters (from China) from Amazon. Don't hate me.
#1 snopercod on 2023-08-16 17:47 (Reply)
Raw oysters; No!
Oysters Rockerfeller; Yes!
#2 OneGuy on 2023-08-16 19:06 (Reply)
Why would anyone want to eat a raw oyster? It'd be like a snot rocket being fired down your throat.
#3 Erasmus on 2023-08-16 19:59 (Reply)
It's my understanding that - in England very much back in the day - apprentices fought (figuratively) to have a limit to the number of oysters in their diet. Apparently those particular mollusks were so abundant that they were extremely cheap at that time and became the normal fare. The apprentices pushed to get more variety.
#4 Frances on 2023-08-16 22:45 (Reply)
Abalone used to be plentiful on the California coast until the f'n sea otters ate them all.
#5 snopercod on 2023-08-17 08:37 (Reply)

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