Mussels

[PossiblyPFB]

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!

I bloody love them. I love all seafood.

Mussels, however, do not love me.

Even a seafood mix that contains mussels makes me 🤮

Bloody mussels.

They are a cheap dish so I think you’re being tight.

I admit, I’ve never tried them as they look like eating slugs. My DH loves them.

Interestingly all my DC love moules and frites. My now 13 yr old has alot of allergies but thankfully not to moules...

I love them, and all other seafood.

I had them today! They were 65p from Waitose. No wine so I booked them in garlic and stick. Amazing.
Even the Tesco delivery bloke said “ whatever you’re cooking smells fantastic”. Smug smile from me as a I said “ moule” (whist carrying in the frozen pizza, processed ham and Tesco own chocolate pudding.)

No :Pammie: not related to alcohol. It’s a recognised definite allergy to bivalves. I love all foods, there is nothing I will not eat, and I love prawns, lobster, fish of any sort. But mussels, scallops, cockles and anything else that comes in two shells makes me really ill. It’s so annoying because scallops in particular are delicious! Like other posters the allergic reaction has been progressively worse each time. I can’t risk even one or two in a seafood dish.

We love Moules marienère but to be fair I wouldn't serve as a course at a dinner party , they are fiddly and messy to eat and not really very impressive imho , my heart would sink if I found they were to be a course
A little like marmite you either love or loath , better having something more general

I like them and used to eat them regularly until I was really, really ill one night after eating them

I put it down to coincidence and had them again and was really, really ill again

I hadn’t been drinking - was only in our local pub (we live by the sea in an area well known for its seafood and the pub is known for its seafood)

I can’t stand the thought of eating them now, I feel sick just thinking about them

@Elouera why would you assume it was norovirus and not food poisoning? Your mussels sounded dodgy so I doubt it was norovirus

I will and do eat most things, but cannot understand how anyone could find them "delicious"

I love oysters and have always enjoyed them in restaurants.

On a whim I bought a dozen oysters from a fish market, opened one and necked it and then noticed that one of the others had opened and appeared to be looking at me.

I was so overcome with guilt thinking it may have seen me eating great aunt Maud, or another of its relatives, that I drove to a seafront promontory and released 11 oysters into the sea.

If there's an oyster bed in the bay of Palma I started it

If an oyster has opened and appears to be looking at you, it is usually dead.

That’s very funny! They die once their shell opens you know so you did actually go totally unobserved.

Our whole family loves shellfish and we live close to the sea so we get cheap, fresh stuff. I know lots of people who have been sick once after some sort of shellfish and never been able to stomach it again, so I rather think of it as making hay while the sun shines, until it happens to me.

My children’s favourite is mussels. Often found on kids’ menus round here luckily.

I would honestly rather sauté and eat my own eyes than mussels.

I love them, will often order them when we're out. DH isn't keen hence we never have them at home.

That explains the oyster shell I found on the beach the next day, silence. I hope the other 10 swam off to long lives after their brief period in captivity.

I've never bought or eaten oysters again.

The only bivalves i like are scallops. I LOVE scallops. Mussels and clams are awful - i think its because i have a real phobia of "gritty" food and am freaked out at the thought of a grain of sand or something in my mussel. However, i will eat virtually any crustacean you care to put in front of me!!

The issue is that they take up so much space on the table (big pot, big plate for shells, more crockery for chips/bread and salad), and the calories come from cream, bread and chips. Not a balanced or nutritious meal for the hassle and washing up.

I too would be a bit unimpressed to find them as a main course at a dinner party. It’s the sort of quick Saturday lunch you eat when you’re out and about.

I love them. Can't eat crab or lobster though after a dodgy one made me so ill.

They’re like tiny rubbery vulvas that taste like gritty mouldy sea water. YABU. Rather have a nice steak with garlic butter instead.

Is mussel snobbery a thing?

Hi, no, we are not trying to be tight at all, or even thinking about that! We are fortunate to be able to afford to cook pretty much anything we’d like to cook, but I would rather serve something that is more rustic and sociable and accessible rather than something that screams trying to impress people.

It seems to work- they seem to come back eagerly when they’re invited! Even the squillionaires!

It's a no from me! Can't bear them!

They are certainly not a dinner party wow/impressive - they are peasant/ pub food.

Apparently mussel snobbery IS a thing 😐🤣

Peasant food are we in 1750?