Brown bread, butter and a couple of baskets of prime Galway oysters the makings of an al fresco banquet.
In Clarenbridge Paddy Burke one of the organisers behind the Galway Oyster Festival, offers some tips on recognising a good oyster, how to open one and why they are not eaten between May and August,
He also explains why Galway oysters are famous for having the grade 1 certificate of purity. The fishing is done by about 75 local farmers who become fishermen for the month of December working the thousand acre oyster bed. The bed is public property so if anyone pays for the licence at a cost of £2, they are entitled to dredge the area.
During the festival which is held every year in September around 650 dozen oysters are consumed. However, it is not the locals that are the main oyster consumers. As Paddy points out,
It's more or less the non-natives that are the biggest oyster eaters.
This episode of 'Broadsheet' was broadcast on 27 April 1962. The reporter is Jack White.
