Any other oyster fanatics on here?

[Ultralight]

I have had enough flirting with oysters to know that they may make me sick so I don’t even try them anymore. We’ve never had fresh ones here in flyover country anyway, at least decades ago when I would still try them.

I think they fly them over here to flyover country and drop them off. So while they are not right out of the ocean beside the restaurant they have not been sitting around for six weeks.

[Ultralight]

Steve, you and I have the same allergy/sensitivity. After a round of research in San Francisco a few years back, I thought I'd have a dozen oysters and a glass of wine at the Embarcadero before heading out to the airport. Well. I had the middle seat of the last row of a sold out flight and as we started down the tarmac, I felt a wave of heat and sweat overcome me. I looked over my shoulder, grateful that the rest room was about 3 feet away. I wound up spending the entire 5 hour Transcontinental flight in the airplane bathroom. It was hell.

So while I was languishing in misery in that bathroom, I had an "aha" moment. The time on our honeymoon in Acapulco when I had oysters, got sick, but chalked it up to Montezuma's Revenge. The time on our 10th anniversary celebration in New Orleans when I had oysters, got sick, but chalked it up to the Hurricane I had on Bourbon Street.

Now I was seeing a pattern, and like you, I have stayed away from oysters ever since.

What horror stories! Perhaps I have been lucky in my brief raw oyster eating career.

It is one of a very few foods that I LOVE but can eat in moderation. Gimme a dozen oysters and I am cool. I usually get a piece of cornbread to round out the meal -- it is a specialty at The Pearl.

[rosarugosa]

I am a coastal snob I guess because I won't eat raw shellfish, or even much seafood at all for that matter, once I get as far inland as western Massachusetts.

[Ultralight]

I am a coastal snob I guess because I won't eat raw shellfish, or even much seafood at all for that matter, once I get as far inland as western Massachusetts.

Must be nice to have such standards! lol
I wish I had access to fresh oysters like you do.

For now I must settle for the ones that took a 2 hour flight from the coast to Ohio.

[SteveinMN]

But for my money, a squirt of lemon is all it takes on an oyster to go full-on foodgasm!

If you get a chance sometime, try them with a granita (kind of like a semi-frozen slush) of hot sauce. You may still prefer lemon but I liked the contrast of flavor and texture.

[Ultralight]

If you get a chance sometime, try them with a granita (kind of like a semi-frozen slush) of hot sauce. You may still prefer lemon but I liked the contrast of flavor and texture.

I'd try that!

[LuckyWY]

Nothing is better than oysters with lemon, it's my favorite seafood ever

[bae]

I am a coastal snob I guess because I won't eat raw shellfish, or even much seafood at all for that matter, once I get as far inland as western Massachusetts.

Oysters are a special case. If properly trained in their youth, they live a long long time out of water for transport. That was the foundation of the early American oyster industry - they could be placed in barrels, loaded onto ships and trains, and safely sent long distances.

By properly-trained, they have to be raised in the right conditions - gently sloping tidelands - where they learn to clamp down and conserve their moisture when the tide is out. (Yes, I live amongst oyster farmers, I could go on forever about the intricacies of the herding process, and the need to move them to the upland mountain grasslands in the spring, but....).

A fascinating book about the early oyster industry in the NY region:

[JaneV2.0]

I love oysters only because they produce pearls--repeatedly, if they're lucky.

[bae]

I love oysters only because they produce pearls--repeatedly, if they're lucky.

I like the shells a lot too, both the pretty ones, and the boring ones that I use to make pathways with around here.