We are lucky in Scotland to have such fresh delicacies. Oysters have been the food of kings and queens, as evidenced in what has been found in the midden at Edinburgh Castle. They were used in building The Mound, the site of the splendid new-classical buildings of the Scottish National Gallery and the Scottish Royal Academy.

In the 18th century in Edinburgh, oyster cellars were coveted places where men and women, even respectable women, could mingle for prearranged soirees. This was at a time when it was frowned upon for a respectable woman to enter a tavern. Eating oysters provided a liminal lapse in the rules of breeding and a break from society’s customary formalities.

Dangers lay ahead though for the supply of oysters…

In 1741, Edinburgh Town Council complained of ‘foreigners and strangers’ dredging the Forth’s oyster scalps without permission and of committing ‘theftous practices; therefore,’very’ breed of oysters may be quite extirpate and carried off to the great and irreparable loss, both of this country and the community’. Increasingly in the 18th and throughout the 19th centuries, people would fish oysters for consumption in England and in the Low Countries. This was particularly the case for young oysters, which would be taken from the Forth and used to replenish scalps elsewhere, in places such as Kent, Essex, and the Netherlands. As well as depleting local stocks, this practice of reseeding distant scalps was not always successful. Often the young oysters could not adapt to their new environment.

Legal and illegal oyster fishing, dredging, disputes over proprietary rights of the Firth of Forth, as well as periods of colder weather that were not conducive to oyster breeding, all contributed to lower stocks of oysters. From the late 18th century, oyster yields can be guesstimated to be around 30 million oysters per year. By 1870–71, this was down to 1,356,000 oysters per year. By 1894, the last year in which records were kept, landings of oysters were a mere 1200, worth £5.

Today, the most common type of oyster being seeded in Scotland is the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). While the native European oyster (Ostrea edulis) is also present in Scottish waters, efforts are being made to restore its populations due to its ecological importance. However, this can be at variance with the introduction of the Pacific oyster, as the Pacific variety is faster-growing, more resistant to disease, and reproduces more rapidly.

Oyster farming can create jobs in rural and coastal communities. They are a sustainable food source, and as bivalves, they can help improve water quality by filtering pollutants and nutrients from the water.

Here’s to the oyster!

For a fabulous book with a chapter on the history of oysters on the Firth of Forth in Scotland click here