Oysters and Food Cultures Around the World（Ayaka Wakazono)

Hello everyone. 

It’s almost March already. About three months have passed since this course began, and it has been a very meaningful experience for me. Through your posts, I was able to learn about your daily lives as well as many delicious dishes from overseas that I had never known before.

For my final post, I would like to share about the oyster dishes I recently enjoyed in Shima City, Mie Prefecture. The oyster season in Japan runs from around November to April, and they are said to be at their best between December and February, when the colder weather makes them firmer and richer in flavor.

In Japan, oysters are prepared in a wide variety of ways. They can be enjoyed raw, grilled, in a hot pot (kaki-nabe), in soba, deep-fried (kaki-fry), or cooked with rice, among many other dishes.

I became curious about how oysters are eaten overseas and did some research. In China, oyster extract is used to make stir-fried dishes with oyster sauce. In France, oysters are most commonly eaten raw, often served with lemon wedges or a strongly flavored condiment called “mignonette,” made from vinegar and shallots. In the United States, oysters are sometimes topped with butter, cheese, herbs, and breadcrumbs and then baked in the oven.

I have not yet tried oysters prepared in these international styles, but I hope to do so someday. Through this course, I have come to feel that the world has become much closer to me through food. Thank you very much for all your posts and for the many discoveries you shared.