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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Mussels

234 replies

PossiblyPFB · 09/02/2020 22:01

Fairly trivial but....

We love Mussels and chips (specifically Moules marienère style) in our house and I find them a great dinner party option as an easy but impressive main dish for a crowd, with skinny chips, salad, and French bread to sop up the sauce.

I always check whether anyone has any dietary requirements or particular dislikes to avoid before hosting. Now I find myself having to ask, and so, what’s your view on molluscs, as some people who ‘are easy’ will say actually, yeah, no mussels thanks when I double check.

It’s become apparent to me that mussels (in general, not mine- which are delicious!) .....are very marmite.

So I’m interested in the MN vote......

Mussels are amazing (YANBU)
Mussels are the worst (YABU)
If they are the worst- WHY??? Help me understand!

Thank you in advance!

Smile
OP posts:
Elphame · 09/02/2020 22:19

Much as I used to love mussels I am now severely allergic to them.

It's not that uncommon.

FredericaBimmel · 09/02/2020 22:20

Mussels are disgusting. I consider myself pretty “easy” about food, but seafood is my hard limit.

To the poster who suggested a fishy broth as an alternative meal - I would imagine the main reason someone wouldn’t like mussels is because of a seafood aversion. Also, if anyone tried to give me any kind of broth as a main dish at a dinner party I’d assume they hated me.

user1471449295 · 09/02/2020 22:20

Can I come to one of your dinner parties OP GrinWink

piefacedClique · 09/02/2020 22:21

We cook them over the fire in a Thai red sauce on the beach! and take two baguettes to mop up all the juice! Absolute heaven!

nocoolnamesleft · 09/02/2020 22:21

The texture is...problematic.

Fruitbatdancer · 09/02/2020 22:21

I love mussels. Despite the pesky one which gave me food positioning in Bruge. I have yet to be able to recreate good moule frit at home. Where do you live? Please can I come? I am not CF I will bring good wine 🍷 Grin

Original poster
PossiblyPFB · 09/02/2020 22:21

We are in a county with good access to very fresh seafood.

OP posts:
ineedaholidaynow · 09/02/2020 22:22

Love mussels.

Elphame are you allergic to any other molluscs? DS can still eat mussels but seems to have become allergic to clams

arethereanyleftatall · 09/02/2020 22:22

I love them, but they're not something I would serve at a dinner party. They're more of a weeknight food to me.

Reluctantbettlynch · 09/02/2020 22:23

Love them. Fresher the better.
People do stupid things with them, other than that they are not any more risky than many foods. Make sure they open fully, if you have to prise it then don't eat it! If they are very slow opening and closing prior to cooking they are not fresh.
They should always have a salty ocean smell rather than a fishy smell, they are not at their best for eating when fishy.

Elouera · 09/02/2020 22:24

My father only developed a shellfish allergy in his 30's- previously could eat oysters, mussels etc no problems. It got to the point he couldn't even touch the water they were cooked in and had to carry 2 epipens around!

GriseldaChop · 09/02/2020 22:26

I really want to love them. I love the sauces they come in, love the idea of hands on eating out the shell etc and I do like the taste but I can put myself off them so easily and I've no idea why! If somebody else has them I have food envy and will pinch them but if I order them myself I can turn my stomach if I think about it too much!

fieldofwheat · 09/02/2020 22:26

Exactly the same as a PP - loved them up until they made me very sick on one occasion. And now I can't touch them.

gavisconismyfriend · 09/02/2020 22:26

I'm not allergic to many things, but had a mussel once and it made me v sick - don't know if it is that I am allergic or if it was a bad mussel but I'm not risking the projectile vomiting again to experiment and find out! I like some shellfish, but not cockles, whelks, oysters - things that are particularly slimy/fishy/chewy - I suspect this is linked to the mussel incident... That said, if you asked me if there was anything I didn't eat, I would absolutely tell you that mussels (and their slimy, chewy, fishy friends) were on my list of no-gos.

SoMuchToBits · 09/02/2020 22:26

I love them and so does my ds who is now 19, but has loved them from the age of about 3.

Elphame · 09/02/2020 22:26

@ineedaholidaynow I honestly don't know.

Each reaction has escalated rapidly in severity and I'd expect a full anaphylactic reaction if I ever have one again.

Since my last reaction to mussels I'm not prepared to take the risk of eating any other shellfish.

Thunderpunt · 09/02/2020 22:27

Yep love 'me, and cozze marinara was on our chef Specials at our restaurant this weekend - sold out, suggesting the people of north London are pretty partial to them too!

SlippersAndThePaper · 09/02/2020 22:28

My mum used to cook them and I just remember them being gritty and not enjoyable. And chewy.

FrogsFrogs · 09/02/2020 22:29

I love them so so much Grin

But I'm aware a lot of people are funny about them so would probably be specific and ask if guests would eat them if that was the main dish, at least where I live in England.

Sure in other parts of the world they would be seen as more standard so no need to ask.

Honeybee85 · 09/02/2020 22:29

I absolutely love them. Esspecially boiled with veggies in white wine. Accompanied by fries, my mum’s lovely waldorf salad and different kind of sauces..yummy.

But I’m not British and they are quite popular in my country.

silencebeforethebleeps · 09/02/2020 22:32

Ah yum, yes, straight from the sea, cleaned well, massive pan, cooked quickly with some random vegetables chucked into the water, pan in middle of table, grab them while they're hot, no sauce, no chips, just a big steamy mussel fest.

Oysterbabe · 09/02/2020 22:35

I love them and often choose them when I see them on the menu. They are quite high risk for food poisoning though and of the times food has made me vom, 50% of those times have been from mussels. I still love them though.

nokidshere · 09/02/2020 22:35

Sounds like our perfect meal. We all like them. I wouldn't cook them for other people either without asking though.

Emmelina · 09/02/2020 22:35

I’m severely allergic, so can’t even dine anywhere that serves them. The one time I had them before being blue lighted to hospital I remember the texture not being pleasant, but I have a real thing about textures in my mouth.

5foot5 · 09/02/2020 22:36

I quite like them and DH used to love them and we had them quite a few times. But once on holiday he must have had a bad one and it made him pretty ill for several days. He tried them again some time later but they didn't go down well. Not as bad as the first time but definitely not right. Same the next few times so in the end he regretfully decided to give them, assuming that his system must now identify them as a toxin.

Now in general he would describe himself as an omnivore and not a fussy eater at all, but if offered mussels he would probably have to make his apologies.