Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Cockles and mussels

Cockles and Mussels alive alive O
. • As children I don’t remember us eating mussels and cockles except one year while holidaying in the Mornington Peninsular we used to dig up cockles in the sand at low tide, hidden amongst seaweed then Mum would cook them. 
• In Fiji we ate river mussels at Davuilevu and the theological students and Lelean students often dived for them in the Rewa River nearby to get protein for their meals. These were rounded mussels. We bought them also from Nausori market.
• Various cockles, mussels, spider shellfish, were sold in the Suva and other markets so we often bought a handful for a meal, to serve with chillies and lemon, or in coconut cream. Not expensive, but very tasty.
• When we lived at Nukutatava Beach I used to pick mangrove oysters with a knife with my sister-in-law Evia. We also had a trochus shell (sici) project with the young men diving for the shellfish, then we'd boil them up, and pack and send the shells on to Suva to on-sell them to Japan to make buttons, jewellry etc. but when we realised we were being ripped off we discontinued the project and also we got sick of eating sici.
• These days in Geelong we buy mussels from a little boat moored near one of the restaurants on the Waterfront or from a fish shop.
• I have never bought oysters or similar in a restaurant but they are served – one by one – at a degustation meal at Igni - $150 a meal apparently.
• Here is a website about harvesting oysters in Vanua Balavu, Lau, Fiji.
http://ridethetrades.com/harvesting-oysters-from-the-mangr…/

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