Oysters the French way

If you visit France regularly, the scene will be familiar. A platter of oysters on the table, lemon and a shallot vinaigrette alongside, and of course a good glass of wine. During the festive season especially, oysters are simply part of many French tables.

But where does this French love of oysters actually come from? And why are oysters in France so closely bound up with eating together and having something to celebrate?

From Aphrodite to French tradition

Oysters have been eaten for thousands of years. The Greeks and Romans were already devoted to them. In those days shellfish were also linked to Aphrodite, or Venus to the Romans, the goddess of love and beauty. Later the oyster even gained a reputation as an aphrodisiac.

In France, oyster farming really took off in the nineteenth century. The best known oyster regions are Brittany, Normandy, Marennes-Oléron and the Bassin d'Arcachon. That is how the oyster earned its lasting place in French food culture.

Why are oysters so French?

The lovely thing about oysters in France is that they are both simple and festive. You eat them at a small wooden table at a cabane à huîtres by the coast, but just as happily over a long, elaborate dinner.

At Christmas and at le réveillon on New Year's Eve, oysters belong on the celebration table for many French people. That is hardly surprising. The holidays fall right in the middle of the traditional oyster season. And oysters were once a luxury. Little by little they became bound up with festive moments.

How do you eat oysters the French way?

Happily, there are no complicated rules. Oysters are served raw on the half shell. Often with lemon or vinaigre à l'échalote: wine vinegar with finely chopped shallot. Add bread with salted butter and you are essentially there.

A crisp, dry white wine goes beautifully with them. And if there is something to celebrate, a glass of champagne, naturally. Browse our vintage champagne glasses.

And that calls for special tableware

Oysters look wonderful, but loose shells are not very practical on an ordinary plate. They wobble and the liquor runs out all too easily. A solution appeared: the assiette à huîtres, or oyster plate. The wells in the plate hold the oysters neatly in place.

From the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, more and more specialised tableware appeared, for snails and asparagus for instance, but also for oysters. The earliest examples were often richly decorated with shells, coral and seaweed.

From the 1950s the style changed. French ceramicists began to play more with form, relief and colour. Across the fifties, sixties and seventies we see plenty of green, turquoise and brown, and sometimes very striking shapes.

Why are they so popular again?

Interest in vintage tableware and unusual ceramics is back. Alongside that, we look more and more often at other food cultures and at the way food is served.

A vintage oyster plate fits right in. And you really do not have to like oysters to enjoy one. Use it for nibbles, combine it with other pieces, hang it on the wall or give it a purpose of your own. That is perhaps the joy of vintage: you decide how it finds a place in your home.

Browse our collection of vintage oyster plates, with makers such as Sarreguemines, Vallauris, Gien, Longchamp and Saint-Clément.