I get that this book might not be up everyone’s alley. I mean, Sex, Death & Oysters is a book about…oysters (my mom saw me reading it and muttered something along the lines of “how are we related?”). Which isn’t necessarily everyone’s topic of choice.
More specifically, what it’s about is author Robb Walsh’s mission to debunk the mythology surrounding Gulf oysters (basically, that they’re gross and they’ll kill ya). In pursuit of a full understanding of this sometimes-sexy, sometimes-lethal food, he runs around the world taste-testing the very best of the best, everywhere from the Acme Oyster House in the French Quarter to the Galway Oyster Festival in Ireland (want to go want to go), but seems to maintain an eternal soft spot for the Gulf’s offerings (now high up on my must-try list: an Apalachicola Bay oyster).
What this book made me want to do is run out and eat many, many oysters immediately (my dad and I are heading to Esca ASAP so I can test out my newfound knowledge). I don’t know that Sex, Death & Oysters will convert oyster-haters – or even convince them to try it (his wife describes one oyster as tasting “like licking the bottom of a boat”) – but for those of us who think there’s nothing better than a dozen on the half-shell, this is food porn with a healthy dose of humor…and, yeah, sex appeal (Walsh does a little investigating into oysters’ aphrodisiac properties with his then-girlfriend Kelly).
Oh, and FYI, that whole “only-eat-oysters-in-months-ending-with-an-R” thing? False! Oysters begin to fatten and sweeten when water temperatures begin to drop, so they can be eaten in any wintry month.
