Oyster Catching

Photo © Rob Jones

Now … I do not like Oysters. In fact I would go as far as to say that I loathe them, and have to think twice before entering a room where I know they are being served.

I have tried them. So I am not speaking from inexperience. A long time ago on a road trip to the Western Isles. I found myself in an Oyster bar in Loch Fyne of all places, and deciding that it was now or never to try them for the first time. In they went. The feeling was just all wrong. And I only just managed to get it over the threshold and into my gullet. My antipathy was solidified a few year later when a friend’s son also tried them for the first time … and couldn’t quite get it past the threshold. The look of panic on everyone’s faces. Were we about to be showered with the remains of an undigested oyster?

So, my attitude has always been ‘proceed with caution.’

But if that’s the case, why have I been loitering around the Falmouth Oyster Festival all week?

Photo Rob Jones

The bottom line is that I just love festivals - Book festivals (about to kick off) Arts Festivals (that happened a couple of weeks ago) and of course Food Festivals. I think it harks back to the days when, as a treat we’d all pile onto the train - it was steam trains back then - get off at Paddington and then negotiate the short journey to Earls Court of Olympia to the Ideal Homes Exhibition, where we’d be dragged around the exhibition hall trying various foods, labour saving devices (like spiralisers) and watching demonstrations of how to live this fantastic existence in a time of novelty. I love watching demonstrations, from a distance. I adore the idea of ‘devices,’ though I have spent the last few years divesting myself of all the unused devices I have collected over the decades. Nice idea at the time. Totally impractical when you get it home. Too flimsy to keep till Christmas and pass it off as a ‘thoughtful’ present to an aunty.

Photo Rob Jones

I don’t seem to be alone. It’s estimated that more than 3000 people plan their holidays around food festivals in Cornwall alone, which generate some £3 million for the local economy. Needless to say, some have not weathered the storm of Covid well, and have struggled to rebuild their popularity.

Not so it seems with the Falmouth Oyster Festival, which was actually much more than simply about oysters. The festival marks the start of the oyster dredging season which runs from October to March, and brings together oyster lovers of course, but also chefs, food and drink enthusiasts, producers and local musicians.

Plenty of street-food outlets too. Yum.

I had a few close shaves with oysters as I squeezed my way through the tent, but I kept my composure at all times.

No plans to change my mind, but certainly no reason to shun this annual shuck-fest.

R