Already in the Marennes Islands, in the land of the figurines, a few millennia before our era, prehistoric men knew that oysters were good… ..

and ……...

It would run slower than a rabbit.

It was much less dangerous than a mammoth.

The opening was not a problem for them.

And that fed his prehistoric man ...

Long easy food for the first men, they were picked at the rhythm of the tides, in the same way that the vacationer of the twenty-first century picks up on the beach shell, mussel and small shrimp.

Now, and for a long time moreover, the collection of oysters is no longer enough and they must be reared.

Advanced civilizations, China and later Rome, imagine well before our consumer society, how to optimize the yield of the natural reproduction of the oyster and already practice spat collection.

Roman gastronomy is uncompromising with our shellfish and knows more qualities of oysters according to their terroir than does our own taste culture.

Already the oysters from the sea of ​​santons (mare santonum - the Marennes basin) represented the best and the fact that they were exported to Rome proves that they were cultivated.

For the record (or the big story), you should know that the Swiss (people occupying the current Switzerland), wish to take refuge in the Santon country to protect themselves from the Germans and thus give pretext to Julius Caesar who refuses to travel to declare the Gallic War.

Later the Middle Ages and its obscurantism made a pale appearance when it came to oyster consumption. Only the coastal populations (thanks to the wild gathering) and the nobility (thanks to its fortune) still taste our fabulous shellfish.

Then came the Renaissance and with it the explosion of culture and the arts.

Among the latter, the gastronomy finds its splendor and the "oysters of Marennes", are found in the whole France, proposed to the barges by scalers (besides most often scaly) itinerant.

Oysters are consumed more and more and the natural benches which ensure their renewal are weakened.

A royal edict then prohibited the fishing of our shells during the breeding period (roughly the months of May, June, July and August). Here we find the origin of the belief, totally false, which says that oysters are only consumable during the months in R (from September to April).

However thanks to this edict the breeding benches are saved from looting and modern oyster farming can be reborn at MARENNES OLERON.

Never again since, the oyster has left the top line of a festive menu and, for a long time, the name of MARENNES-OLERON will be for gourmets a synonym of the word oyster.