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One Bite At A Thyme OYSTERS - NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION ...by Brenda Ruble  There are a few great words in the English language that, if casually tossed out in a conversation, will literally stop someone mid-sentence, reacting in either delight...or terror! One such word that I like to have a lot of fun with is "oysters". Step up to a group of people and watch their faces as you slowly roll the word "oysters" off your tongue. It's pure enjoyment as you watch the next few seconds unfold. Some people get quite a charge out of an oyster or two wiggling down their throat. Others have this look of horror if they even think of an oyster slip-sliding away!
I never really thought of oysters as traditional cuisine. As a child I wouldn't have been caught dead eating an oyster, let alone being in the same room with one!!! My kids are another story. My daughter will choke (guzzle in her mind, choking in mine) down 14 oyster shooters for breakfast and call it good. Personally, I can't imagine ANY good day starting off with an oyster shooter!
I was first drawn under the oyster spell when I visited a quaint museum in Shedd, Oregon. Shedd is a small farming town located in the Willamette Valley south of Portland. Upon entering the museum, what struck me as odd was the number of oyster plates displayed on the museum walls. In this day and age it takes an hour-and-a-half to drive from Shedd to the coast. But 100 to 150 years ago, traveling by horse and wagon, it took several days just to make the journey one way! I started to wonder why anyone would work so hard to obtain something so disgusting. Maybe our ancestors knew something I too should know? 
Oysters were a valued food in Ancient Greece and Rome. Native Americans considered oysters a staple, necessary for good health, and the early Colonial settlers ate oysters by the bushel rather than the quart jar. When settlers moved westward into the wild frontier, a stagecoach service called "The Oyster Line" carried barrels of oysters out west to them. Everyone could afford oysters. They were sold by street car vendors in oyster parlors and saloons everywhere. A British traveler once wrote, "The oyster is the national dish of the United States". That was news to me as I always thought it was apple pie!
So what is it that draws my family to oysters? For my kids it's the one time they can torture their mother and get away with it. Just watching them slide one after another down their throats sends shivers up my spine! For me, it's zinc...and copper...and iron, calcium, phosphorus, Vitamin A and B12, the list goes on...I run my kitchen like a chemistry lab. If traditional societies ate tons of oysters and sustained superb health with very little tooth decay then, I too, will consume oysters by the bushel. Surprisingly enough, if you eat them in abundance, you might even start to like them!
Time to drop another oyster down my throat! Meanwhile, back at the farm... 
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