Oysters

Raced across the Alps from Britain, the oyster was one of the greatest luxuries of Imperial Rome. You can almost measure the spread of Roman civilisation by the oyster shells they left behind - Verulamium near St. Albans is swarming with them -and the industry the Romans founded during their 400 years’ occupation of the Isles satisfied British needs up to the middle of the last century.

Then man had to come to the oyster’s aid to prevent it being eaten out of existence. And now the baby brood oysters are tenderly protected from their marine enemies, so that they can plump up enough to fall victim to man’s insatiable demands.