I was 14 when I tasted my first oyster in La Spezia, Italy. It was a wild oyster, not a cultivated one, and as I felt the flavours exploding in my mouth, I heard the fisherman ask me, “Senti il sapore di mare?” (Do you feel the taste of the sea?) I nodded my head wildly in agreement, like a good South Indian girl, tasting what felt like the whole exquisiteness of the ocean in my mouth. Needless to say, I took to them instantly.
Many have asked me about my bizzare fascination for oysters. Some even tell me that they are overrated, comparing them to caviar or the durian. Others talk about one pearl found for every 1,00,000 oysters. Well, I’d rather eat them than wait to find pearls.
Meat and myth
This year, at the Île de Ré, my friend Freddie took me to visit an oyster farm and on the way, shattered a popular French myth — that oysters can only be eaten in months with the letter R in the name. So while September used to herald the beginning of oyster season, lasting until April, thanks to sustainable oyster farming, they can now be shucked all year round. I was told that people were discouraged from consuming oysters at certain times of the year to control overconsumption, but today, farming techniques are so advanced that it hardly matters. As if to prove this point, I even spotted an oyster vending machine at Île de Ré!
But the threat of overconsumption is very real. At the turn of the century, the European oyster population declined due to poor controls and over harvesting, and they became scarce in France, where les huîtres were beloved. At this point, robust varieties of Pacific oysters from Japan entered the market.
Tasting the ocean
As the oyster farming community busied itself, rebuilding the industry, it was Les Parcs St Kerber situated opposite the emerald waters of Mont-Saint-Michel in Cancale, who took the challenge personally.
Situated in the North West of France, Cancale is practically French oyster royalty, since their oysters are referenced throughout history, starting with the Romans, Henri IV to Louis XIV, Marie-Antoinette and Napoleon. Fans included Voltaire, Rousseau and Signac but none were as loyal or indulgent as the Russian Tsars who had them delivered to their tables in St Petersburg.
Les Parcs St Kerber was started in 1970, two years after Marie-Anne and her husband Joseph Pichot took over her father’s oyster business and started exporting. Their sustainable marine farm was set up in 1989, and today the boutique firm is a global establishment known for cultivating many successful varieties.
Notable among their successes are the “Pied de Cheval”, for the oyster glutton, which takes 10-20 years to mature and can weigh anywhere between 350 grams to 3 kg. Muirgen, Gaelic for ‘born from the sea’ is the oyster from Ireland that has a redolent flavour, while the Fine de Claire is slightly more salty; the Creuse has a powerful iodine tang and the Belon is fleshy and dulcet.
But the most famous of these, and my favourite, is one variety introduced in 2004, called the Tsarskaya, or Pearl of the Tsars, an homage to Russia and its famous gastronome partons. Though fleshy and firm, it has a soft and subtle hint of iodine with a bite which expels a creamy sweetness; I can only describe it as an edible symphony of marine life. The Tsarskaya takes three to four years from spat (or seed) to maturation, and is best served with a fine Cru. Today, the Parcs St Kerber exclusive is served in Michelin establishments, including Raffles in Singapore, Burj al Arab in Dubai and le Dome in Paris.
Pearls before brine
I left Cancale with a beautiful wooden box embossed with the double headed eagle celebrating the Tsars, filled with Tsarskaya Oysters and seaweed. As someone who could indulge in the entire box myself without batting an eyelid, I did check up on its health effects. Turns out, oysters are low on cholesterol and calories, high on protein and have the highest levels of omega fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, B12 and so on. This means it’s excellent for cardiovascular health, your eyes, hair, skin, and after you eat them, you can throw the shells in your garden. Really, what’s not to love about oysters?