This is our prompt photo for this week's Sepia Saturday. I've decided to focus on the oysters which are sold in the above pictured establishment.
I'm not sure what this glutton is eating - maybe a drumstick in one hand and an oyster on his fork. Maybe it's just a leaf of lettuce. But this is the type of gluttony you think of when thinking of oysters, so that's what I'm going to think it is.
I've never been one to love oysters. I think I've only had raw oysters twice in my life. I loved the lemon and the sauce, but the oysters - not so much. As Jonathan Swift said "He was a bold man that first eat an oyster."
There are a few interesting factoids about oysters. Did you know that our government in 1865 displaced the native Americans of Yaquina Bay, Oregon so that the non-native settlers could have better access to the oyster beds? There we go again!
This and other oyster facts are documented in The Oysterman a film produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Check it out if you want to know everything there is to know about the west coast oyster.
People started eating canned oysters during WWII because of meat rationing.
Thousands of gallons of frozen oysters were purchased by the U.S. military in WWII. I'm surprised there are any oysters left!
Now about the myth that oysters are an aphrodisiac. No good scientific study has ever proved this. But oysters are full of zinc and zinc supposedly controls progesterone levels. High progesterone levels equal a positive effect on the libido. So...who knows for sure.
It seems every culture has some kind of food that is thought to be an aphrodisiac. On our trip to China, we were often told, "Eat your sea cucumbers, they're good for your sex life". Or "eat those ducks feet, they're good for your sex life." It seemed that just about everything we were served was good for your sex life. I snapped this photo of a shop window in China. It's true, just about anything in China is good for your sex life!
But the only good thing about oysters:
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I agree, the pearl is the best thing about oysters! Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteA snake has a penis? I don't even want to think about this.
ReplyDeletei wondered about that as well. what in the heck do you think it really is?
DeleteI've never been tempted to eat an oyster, but I enjoyed your blog.
ReplyDeleteI've tried them, but they didn't do much for me.
ReplyDeleteAs for the aphrodisiac qualities, would anyone fancy the attention of someone with fishy breath?
Good point. A real turnoff.
DeleteThe aphrodisiac I always heard about when I was young, was called 'Spanish Flies'. I still don't know what it is/was and I am not sure I want to know.
ReplyDelete@Wendy: You just did :)
Yes! And I can't stop.
DeleteI picked on oysters as well and had an early post entitled "String of Pearls". Oysters would have never worked as an aphrodisiac for me as I struggled to keep them down when brave enough to try them. @Peter - Spanish Fly comes from dessicated beetle and has been known from Roman times, but it can kill!
ReplyDeleteWell, that is good to know, about China's food. I loved your post. I also love pan fried oysters, but have never eaten a raw one, and will never eat a canned one again (yuck).
ReplyDeleteI will go and check out that PBS link, thank you! We have driven past oyster farms along the Washington Coast. I wonder if there is a difference in taste between wild and farmed oysters.
I just think that it is odd that their shells are huge, for what you end up getting inside.
Kathy M.
...Lord knows what Fish & Chips and Yorkshire beer did for mine........{*weeps*}
ReplyDeleteWhat a great spin for your post! I prefer the end result..pearls!
ReplyDeleteYour newest follower as well!
Jan
Thanks Jan, for stopping by and becoming a follower.
DeleteInteresting factoids!
ReplyDeleteThat's why they all had gout those gluttons, eating to many oysters. I must say I love fresh oysters from Tasmania. But
ReplyDeleteTiger Penis and Snake Penis to up the sex life is a bit to much for me, all I can say poor snake, poor tiger! such nonsense people believe in. Yes I agree too the pearl is the best.
I'll take the oyster over the pearl any day.
ReplyDeleteWell done Brett. Let's share then and I'll have the pearl! I couldn't bring myself to eat an oyster, not even for the ....ahem ..'zinc'. Very entertaining post.
DeleteI'm not a fan of oysters either, but I love pearls. That glutton looks (to me anyway) like Uncle Vernon Dursley.
ReplyDeleteHow could I help but be attracted by that title! I can't say I have ever tasted oysters, but thank you for the "history".
ReplyDeleteI'm with you in the oyster department - they're too dangerous and that texture everybody raves about reminds me of raw chicken. The Viagra cartoon is priceless and like Wendy I've never thought about snake peniiii is that the plural? I enjoyed every word of this post - so well done.
ReplyDeleteI've never had raw oysters but a friend brought me back some Fanny Bay Oysters from BC when she came back to the UK. They were canned and I messed about with them and had a few tastes but they weren't to my taste, shall we say. I'll take the pearl, thank you! Jo :-)
ReplyDeleteI used to live in Virginia Beach on the Chesapeake, where the local Lynnhaven oysters were exported all over the country and probably the world. But like so much 19th century glutton, this shellfish variety was harvested to near extinction. In fact(oid) oysters are the natural filters that keep the bays and marshes clean.
ReplyDeleteYou went with oysters but still allowed us to go window-shopping. A pearl of a post.
ReplyDeleteThey sure are! Hehehehe!
ReplyDeleteI've read a good story about zinc and zinc deficiency and I think it is really good for people who are trying to conceive a baby. I've also read that ginseng roots are also good. So I think it is not bad trying those things around.
ReplyDelete