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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think nobody really likes oysters?

194 replies

buddylicious · 07/03/2022 21:06

(Lighthearted)

We were just watching a tv programme where somebody was eating oysters.

A friend who was here said "I don't believe anyone really likes oysters. They only eat them because they are pretentious".

I've tried them a few times and I'm not a great fan.

Was my friend right? 😜

OP posts:
m00rfarm · 08/03/2022 11:11

Living in Portugal by the sea, we have fresh oysters and plenty of other sea food - mussels, clams, sea snails, crab, lobster, cray fish (including barnacles which I think are not really eaten in the UK). I love all of them - oysters raw though, not cooked. I like them with lime juice and a little black pepper - occasionally some tabasco. They taste of salt and the sea - but it is a bit like me asking why people drink coffee because I hate the taste and smell of coffee. Not everyone is the same. And pretending to like oysters? What a strange thing to say!

incognitoforthisone · 08/03/2022 11:29

I love oysters. Unfortunately, I am also allergic to them. I ate them with no bother for many years (I was 12 when I first had one and never looked back) but then got poisoned by one in my 30s and it left my body unable to tolerate them any more, so unless I want to experience 12 hours of projectile vomiting and a horrible itchy rash, it's no more oysters for me Sad.

TristesseDurera · 08/03/2022 12:03

@Wallabyone

I've eaten them when out but I don't love them. I read somewhere that 1 in 10 oysters contain norovirus and since then I don't really eat them.

I love all seafood and fish, including eel and whelks, mussels and prawns, but I'm just not keen on the likelihood of getting sick with oysters!

I've eaten a hell of a lot more than 10 oysters in my life and I've never been sick from them. I'd estimate I've had several hundred. I think that statistic is wrong.
RonniePickering · 08/03/2022 12:11

I won't even try one, I know I'd start gipping as soon as it hit the back of my throat 🤮

crosstalk · 08/03/2022 13:07

DH, DCs and I love them. DCs had them from age 5. My DM had her first at 80 y o and liked them. As PPs have said it used to be the food of the poor in London and other places that grew them like Essex, Southampton and Norfolk. Oysters are nutritious if grown in clean water and probably provided the Victorian poor with vital vitamins. We don't pay a pound a piece which is ludicrous but buy them and open them ourselves.

honeyrider · 08/03/2022 15:57

[quote Erinyes]@HaggisBurger, my understanding (which is vague, as I’m vegetarian and haven’t eaten seafood of any kind since my teens) is that Clarenbridge was the location of the original Galway Oyster Festival, but split off as a separate entity at some point…?[/quote]
The original Oyster festival was in Clarinbridge but a clique tried to hijack it and moved it to Galway City in around the Great Southern Hotel. Clarinbridge continued running their festival.

Paddy Burke's and Moran's the Weir are the two oyster venues.

Jaxhog · 08/03/2022 16:02

Love them, especially raw ones! I've had the occasional bad one, but it didn't put me off.

saoirse31 · 08/03/2022 16:05

Oysters r delicious. You don't like them op, fine. Spoiler alert: everyone is not the same as you.

wanttomarryamillionaire · 08/03/2022 16:15

They are probably the most revolting thing ive ever eaten! I literally threw it straight back up. They taste like grit, fish and salt and have the consistency of spunk or those really big globs of sputum you cough up when you have a stinking cold! Utterly rancid!

AdaColeman · 08/03/2022 17:01

@wanttomarryamillionaire Don't try Hákari (Icelandic fermented shark) you wouldn't like that either! Wink

Anonymous48 · 08/03/2022 17:04

You are so very very wrong. Oysters are the best thing ever. A really fresh briny oyster that has been well shucked so there are no bits of shell in it. Maybe a small squeeze of lemon. It tastes like heaven.

HELLITHURT · 08/03/2022 17:18

I've bought myself some oysters today, awaiting DH to shuck them for me!

😋

JingsMahBucket · 08/03/2022 17:58

This thread has inspired/forced me to order sushi for dinner. I’m going to look for a good place for oysters in London for when I visit next month. Love oysters. There’s nothing pretentious about liking them. People on this site overuse that word way too much.

SimonedeBeauvoirscat · 08/03/2022 18:10

Oysters used to be a famous test on a first date for whether you spit or swallow. I liked them but after a bad one in Connemara I just can’t anymore - same as I can’t eat satay after a food poisoning incident. 24hrs of throwing up that flavour kinda turns you off forever.

HELLITHURT · 08/03/2022 18:13

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

Oysters used to be a famous test on a first date for whether you spit or swallow. I liked them but after a bad one in Connemara I just can’t anymore - same as I can’t eat satay after a food poisoning incident. 24hrs of throwing up that flavour kinda turns you off forever.
Did they really? First date?
ronjobbins · 08/03/2022 18:38

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

Oysters used to be a famous test on a first date for whether you spit or swallow. I liked them but after a bad one in Connemara I just can’t anymore - same as I can’t eat satay after a food poisoning incident. 24hrs of throwing up that flavour kinda turns you off forever.
What a load of misogynistic bollocks Hmm
Anonymous48 · 08/03/2022 19:26

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

Oysters used to be a famous test on a first date for whether you spit or swallow. I liked them but after a bad one in Connemara I just can’t anymore - same as I can’t eat satay after a food poisoning incident. 24hrs of throwing up that flavour kinda turns you off forever.
Huh? How would that work? Nobody spits out oysters while consuming them. Or is it whether you swallow them whole, or chew them first?
SusieQ5604 · 08/03/2022 19:28

I LOVE them!!!!!

XenoBitch · 08/03/2022 19:35

I have never tried them, but tbh the thought of just downing them like a shot seems like a waste of money to me.

Fizbosshoes · 08/03/2022 19:39

DH likes Oysters and a couple of times he's tried to get me to try one but I can't even bare the thought of it. So I can't say I don't like them because I've never trued them, but they are not appealing at all.

Glittertwins · 08/03/2022 19:40

Love them raw then cooked with lemon juice. Different types really do taste different.

Glaciferous · 08/03/2022 19:41

Oysters are great! I also love snails and pretty much all seafood. The only thing I can't get the hang of is sea urchin. Not nice. I had one on a sushi platter once and it was awful.

Anonymous48 · 08/03/2022 20:32

@XenoBitch

I have never tried them, but tbh the thought of just downing them like a shot seems like a waste of money to me.
That would be a waste of money! You need to chew it and really savor it before swallowing.
Anonymous48 · 08/03/2022 20:34

@Fizbosshoes

DH likes Oysters and a couple of times he's tried to get me to try one but I can't even bare the thought of it. So I can't say I don't like them because I've never trued them, but they are not appealing at all.
That's such a shame. I would be upset if my husband wouldn't even try one, because sharing a dozen oysters with your loved one is such a lovely experience. Fair enough if you try one and don't like it, but to not even try? Very sad.
dicdicnurse · 08/03/2022 20:45

@DoorLion

I like oysters but sadly they don’t like me.
Same for me I'm afraid. But yet I continue to try Smile
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