SSH -- OYSTER BED AHEAD!
Most people have heard the old song which states that "a noisy noise annoys an oyster," hut Captain Owen Cunningham, who spoke in the B.B.C.'s (In Town Tonight" programme recently, says that it is true. And Captain Cunningham is a breeder who .has sold over four million -oysters, so he should know. He told listeners that if there is any disturbance over an oyster bed the oysters shut up at once, which means that they stop feeding, and also growing, so that if anyone tries to cultivate oysters in a noisy .area, they are wasting their time.
Oysters have quite a history, and the ancient Britons used to send them to Rome according to Captain Cunningham. "Whenever a Roman camD is excavated in Britain," he said, "you can aiways be sure of finding piles of oyster shells, no matter how far inland the camp may be. Xn-d Colchester is still tfie traditional centre ' of the oyster trade, as it was in Roman times." ■ Captain Cunningham was not aiways an oyster farmer, for it was intended that he should join his fa-ther's laundry - business. But dirty clothes did not appeal to him and he found fish, an'd especially oysters, much more interesting. He developed an abiding interest in oysters, studied their origin, pultivation and treatment and made* up his mind to breed his own
oysters for the London cpnnoisseur. He gave listeners his views on the age-old controversy of how oysters should be eaten, saying that, in his opinion, there is no better way than to eat them raw and straight from the shell, so that you get the liquor. "And," said ihe "expert, "they should be chewed to bring out the real flavour." f , He also said, most comforti'A^y, J that there was no need for oysters to be a rich man's dish. Lack of breeding facilities has created a shortage in England which has forced prices up, but he looks forward to the time when oysters can be bred again in large quantities so that they can be bought, as of old, fresh from the street barrow at a penny a time.
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Chronicle (Levin), 21 May 1949, Page 4
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357SSH -- OYSTER BED AHEAD! Chronicle (Levin), 21 May 1949, Page 4
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