When the Irish pay homage to something, you know it’s got to be good. In this case the object of their affection is the oyster, that marvelous mollusk that’s a meal in of itself. The good citizens of Galway love ‘em. For some half-a-century now they’ve celebrated the bivalve by throwing a festival, and so it is this weekend.
The Galway International Oyster Festival kicks off Friday, Sept. 28 and runs through Sunday, Sept. 30. It’s billed by organizers as “the most internationally-recognized food festival in Ireland” and by the Sunday Times as “one of the 12 greatest shows on earth.”
It’s held at September’s end to trumpet the town’s annual oyster harvest, which runs from September through April. Galway’s marvelous mollusks are among the most prized on the planet, and there are endless ways to prepare them.
Before you eat ‘em, you’ve got to shuck ‘em. To that end, there’s the World Oyster Opening Championship with Guinness. The event isn’t for amateurs. These folks are serious about prying their slimy, succulent prizes from their shells.
In addition to endless eating, there are goblets of Guinness, perhaps the world’s best Irish coffee, lots of live music, cooking demonstrations (you don’t just eat them raw), and kids’ costume dressups.
This is a very big deal indeed, attracting more than 10,000 oyster aficionados annually. Over the years folks like Bob Hope and film director John Huston have dropped in.
The Galway area per se is a seafood and shellfish-lovers’ paradise. Trek the Seafood Trail, a series of restaurants that are serious about serving up some of the best seafood anywhere. One of them that’s been around for a while is The Malthouse Restaurant. A remake of the place has melded a modern, stylish place with great food savvy service.
Hungry to sign up for next year’s event? Search and compare cheap flights to Ireland.
(Image: thefoodgroup)
