Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour Review

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Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour ReviewRobb Walsh's latest book, "Sex, Death & Oysters," confirms my growing conviction that he is the Bill Bryson of food writers. Funny, informative, full of insight and personal adventure, the book is, as its subtitle states, a "half-shell lover's world tour." Walsh, the restaurant critic of the Houston Press and author of "The Texas Cowboy Cookbook" takes us to the great oysters regions of the world -- Galveston Bay in Texas, Apalachicola Bay in Florida, the Pacific Northwest, the coast of Louisiana, Galway Bay in Ireland, England's Thames Estuary, Cancale, France, among others.
Everywhere he travels Walsh approaches his molluscan subject in the manner of his previous work, be it Texas barbecue, cowboy cooking or Tex-Mex. That is, food in the context of a region's culture, its identity and social history, as well as the food itself and how to prepare it. He visits with restaurateurs, he talks to experts and people in the business of oyster culture, he goes to festivals, he rides on oyster boats (he was on an oyster lug in Galveston Bay when it got raided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for harvesting violations). The result is a captivating mix of biology and ecology, history, cantankerous personalities, love story and personal odyssey.
His girlfriend and later wife, Kelly, accompanies him on many of his travels. Walsh diplomatically discusses the valdity of the claim of oysters' aphrodisiac power. (Walsh tends toward the belief that they are an aphrodisiac, but concedes that further "undercover" research is needed.) Walsh skillfully captures the eccentricity, indeed, the weirdness, of people whose lives revolve around the oyster. At the world's oldest oyster festival, the Colchester Oyster Feast in Colchester, England, the festival opens with a solemnity that would rival Holy Week in the Vatican. The Festival hall, Walsh says, is the Cathedral of the Oyster Faithful and the mayor of Colchester the archbishop.
And everywhere, he dines on oysters at places fancy and otherwise, from the derelict Gilhooley's Raw Bar in San Leon, Texas, to Rules in London. He says eating raw oysters is "at once perverse and spiritual." He dines on Gulf oysters at the Acme Oyster House in the French Quarter, on Natives in Britain and on Belons in France. Oysters are like wine, Walsh explains, in how their locale affects their taste. He riffs on London martinis, the difficulty in describing the taste of oysters and on the technique of shucking. He rounds the book out with 15 recipes of classic oyster dishes (stews and soups, Oysters Bienville, pan roasts, among others)and a listing of the 25 oyster places mentioned in the book. A dozen oysters on the half-shell can set you back 60 dollars in London. Walsh is a newspaperman at heart, and he set out to tell the story of the oyster and the people around it. He succeeded admirably. The book is a pleasure to read, even if you like your oysters only fried, not raw and alive.Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour Overview

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