religion

"Religion is a mysterious word. It can save some lives, and it can really ruin others."

*barfing*

ew, eew, EEEEW!

An oyster is a most unappetizing blob of glup.

You and Gollum are welcome all of my share, yarb.

Is there a gastroetymologist in the house?

I think of it more affectionately, like swallowing a sneeze.

Yarb, the answer is: because eating a raw oyster is much like swallowing someone else's loogie. (Sorry reesetee--you must be barfing by now.)

Bleurggh, cb. I could never understand why people would want to ruin a lovely cold slimy oyster by cooking it.

I was watching the Lord of the Rings movie last night and at the scene where Sam is lambasting Gollum for wanting to eat his rabbit raw, I found myself taking Gollum's side.

skipvia, the live baby octopi sound like fun. I've only eaten them cooked but I do like the texture.

My cousin described a south seas delicacy he once tried--live baby octopi dipped in some sort of sauce and swallowed whole. The sensation going down was supposed to be the attraction to the dish. I've never been able to shake the mental image.

I figured that as long as we were talking about oysters on the religion page I could toss that in...

Correct. I should have specified that. Anyway, I don't eat them noways, nohow.

reesetee, they are only (supposed to be) alive when you eat them raw. I never eat them raw; I prefer them steamed. They're certainly not alive after that.

*fingers crossed*

Not to mention they are usually alive when one eats them. (Or so I learned from reading The Big Oyster.)

I agree with Saki. Give me oysters over religion any day. Certainly (to misquote Larkin),

"If I were called in
To construct a religion
I should make use of oysters."

I think oysters are more beautiful than any religion...They not only forgive our unkindness to them; they justify it, they incite us to go on being perfectly horrid to them. Once they arrive at the supper table they seem to enter thoroughly into the spirit of the thing. There's nothing in Christianity or Buddhism that quite matches the sympathetic unselfishness of an oyster.
--Saki, 1911, The Chronicles of Clovis