oysters

Forget Popcorn at Movies, Try Oysters

Filed under: Dining

Even at the poshest of theaters, it's unheard of to be given shellfish.

Apparently, modern theaters are flouting tradition by expecting us to dine on a cheap triviality like popcorn. According to Reuters, Elizabethan theatergoers preferred oysters while they watched Shakespeare's canon take shape -- even the groudlings (those without proper seats who stood on the ground by the stage for a penny).

Oysters were reportedly most popular (and were probably the cheapest), and other "snacks" included crab and other shellfish like mussels, whelks, periwinkles, dried raisins and figs, hazelnuts, plums, cherries, peaches, baked blackberry and elderberry pies and sturgeon, "according to experts who excavated The Rose and The Globe theatres on the south bank of the River Thames."

"Oysters were in fact the staple diet of the poor, right up to the Victorian period, and certainly we find oyster shells by the thousand on nearly every archaeological site we do," senior Museum of London archaeologist Julian Bowsher who excavated the two theater sites told Reuters.

As someone who's paid just as much for popcorn at the movies as I've paid for a fine plate of oysters, I have to say, I think the Elizabethans had it better. You know, besides the way they smelled.

Tags: Elizabethan, Film, Globe Theatre, GlobeTheatre, Movies, Oysters, Popcorn, Shakespeare

Warm Weather And Raw Oysters Don't Mix

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Oyster lovers in the deep South are fuming over a potential FDA policy that would require Gulf Coast oysters harvested in April through October to be treated before sale for raw consumption. While the FDA says it is trying to prevent deaths to the potential consumption of deadly bacteria, restaurant owners and oyster lovers says that the government is nosing in where it doesn't belong.

Oysters are a huge part of life in Louisiana. Fresh oysters on the half shell eaten at the raw bar aren't just a delicacy but a tradition. But the FDA says that 15 people each year die from the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria and warm weather oysters are more likely to carry this deadly bacteria. Oysters can be treated with a bacteria-fighting technology but critics of the policy, which would go into effect in 2011, say that the treatments are expensive and there are too few of the oyster treating machines in place in the area. The price of treated oysters could skyrocket.

There is also a fear that the sterilized oysters don't have the same intensity of flavor as the untreated ones. Methods including soaking the oysters in hot and cold water baths, using a water pressure treatment, freezing or even irradiation. The FDA says that oysters treated with all these methods are safe to eat but all the processes except irradiation kill the oyster which takes away a bit of the naughty thrill of eating live shellfish.

Oysters are important to the Louisiana economy. Around 3,500 people are employed in the industry in the state. The LA Times reports that it has a $318-million annual impact on the economy and provides a third of the nation's oysters. Federal officials have said that Louisiana can regulate what goes on within its own state, the FDA only regulates food that passes over state lines.

Those who have seen the deadly effect of the vibrio bacteria feel that the raw oyster ban is a simple and necessary precaution but it's hard to convince the shuckers and longterm consumers of the need to change what they have always done.

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Tags: fda, louisiana, oysters, shuckers

France's Oyster Industry In Trouble

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

There's big trouble in France for the oyster market. Bloomberg reports that close to 80% of France's annual 130,000-ton oyster harvest have been killed off this summer due to a herpes-like virus. The virus affected the 12- to 18-month-old oysters that would be edible in 2010. Those due to be harvested this year and next year weren't harmed. Oyster growers are trying to replenish the stocks but the oyster business which generates $1.5 billion is sales is in serious jeopardy in two years.

Researchers at the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea found larger than usual quantities of the Ostreid Herpes, or OsHV-1, virus as well as bacteria called Vibrio Splendidus. They believe that the bacteria might have made the oysters more vulnerable and that climate change may also have been a factor. Winter temperatures in 2007 and 2008 were 2 percent above average. So far the oyster crisis has only occurred in France.

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Tags: france, oysters