I am sure the French will eat anything from the sea.

[Lehaut]

Have been waiting 3 weeks for the weather and tides to be right for a circular bike ride over the bridge to the Island of Noirmoutier and  then return over the submersible Passage du Gois.  Yesterday it all came together.  There were dozens of cars and hundreds of people out on the mud flats scratching away for the various shell fish that live in the (not too pleasant smelling) mud.  Quite a risk to drive your car onto the mud and over the rocks that line to causeway for a handful of shellfish.  What did surprise us where those who were just by the side of the road, cracking oysters  off the rocks and sucking them down there and then, throwing way the shells and hacking off a few more.    Not our thing at all, do other members enjoy this form of "wild food" harvesting?

 

[DaveLister]

Love it !!

As a child I grew up next to the sea and would regularly go down at low tide to collect 'supper'. You learnt early on what shellfish to avoid. If a mussel didn't close when you approached, or a limpet came off the rocks too easily, you left them well alone.

The best was collecting rasor clams. You'd walk the beach looking for their air holes, sprinkle a little salt in, then grab the clam when it came up having mistaken the salt for the incoming tide.

As I got older I learnt how to catch the spider crabs that hid in the rocks at low tide. Those would be boiled in a large pot on the beach before being taken back to the house to eat.

I don't often get to visit a beach nowadays but still can't resist a forage when I do.

[Lori]

Nope, not for me.  I love raw oysters, but after seeing SO many recalls, I will only eat cooked oysters.  Same with most other raw shellfish.  Just not worth the risk to me.

I do love most all fish and shellfish, but it has to be cooked for me - with the very rare preparation of a good Ceviche.