Come como Kiki travels: Cancale
Eating fresh oysters and drinking wine while sitting on steps by the sea
Welcome to Come como Kiki! If you’re new here, Come como Kiki is a twice-weekly newsletter typically published on Wednesdays and Fridays. Wednesday posts are usually dedicated to a particular recipe, cooking technique, or food tradition here in Spain, while Fridays are a roundup post of all things culinary (recipes, articles, seasonal produce, restaurants in Madrid) that I’ve loved that week. Every other week we also have a Sunday Sobremesa discussion post, where we chat in the comments about a chosen topic.
This week I’m introducing a new series called Come como Kiki Travels. Each travel newsletter will focus on a particular food/cuisine of a place that I’ve traveled, a bit of history or interesting facts about the food, and my experience. These posts don’t have a particular schedule; they’ll pop up from time to time in the weekly Wednesday newsletter slot.
Today’s newsletter talks about my time in Cancale, France, which we visited in February of 2022 and is famous for its oysters.
When I was a kid, oysters were odd breaded nuggets that my parents would occasionally pop into our Fry Daddy. A chicken nugget connoisseur myself, I was always slightly offended to see the empty box on the counter beside the deep fryer, suspicious that the seafood would contaminate my own precious Tyson tenders to be cooked after.
My hometown was landlocked in a rural, southern area of the US, which meant that eating seafood (other than trout or bluegill caught by my dad, or occasionally crab on our yearly beach trip) wasn’t a common occurance in our household. Any regular reader of Come como Kiki can also tell you that I was a selective eater as a child. It was a miracle that at this age I was eating something that wasn’t a peanut butter sandwich or my mom’s homemade rolls. Oysters were out of the question.
In fact, I didn’t encounter my first real, fresh oyster until about 10 years ago, when David and I traveled to New York City for a long weekend. By that time I was a much more adventurous eater and had cut my teeth on a variety of shellfish and mollusks a few months prior in Spain. We ended up at the Grand Central Oyster bar, where I skeptically but excitedly sat in front of raw oysters cracked open and served on a plate of ice with a wedge of lemon. I still remember a picture David took of me that day: looking at the camera and smiling with my eyes while sticking my tongue out of the side of my mouth, half shell in hand. Here I was, picky Kiki from RuralTown, USA, getting ready to eat my first oyster. I immediately loved them.
Fast forward to this past February, when David and I decided to take a road trip to Northern France. After a couple of days in Normandy, we drove down to Cancale, a port town in the French province of Brittany. Cancale is famous for its oysters; according to a website dedicated to Brittany tourism, it was known for oysters even back in Roman times.
The current day lure of Cancale is its fresh oyster market, aka Le Marché Aux Huîtres, seated on the bay of Mont Saint-Michel. This was our draw to the town, as well. After parking, we made our way to the market, easily spotted by its various stands sporting blue-and-white-striped awnings. Under each toldo1 stood a different shucker, expertly popping open oysters by the dozen to serve to eager market-goers like ourselves.
We chose a stand near the entrance (Earl Jean d’Cancale to be specific, pictured above) for our first round. After selecting our oysters, David headed to a nearby restaurant to grab a couple glasses of white wine, and I went in search of a nice spot on the stadium-like stairs by the sea.
Believe me when I say I don’t think I’ve had a more simple yet oddly romantic experience in my life. We sat looking out into the bay, clinking our (plastic!) glasses of wine, relishing oysters on the half shell, and throwing the empty shells on the beach atop the piles of ostra2 exoskeletons discarded by enthusiasts who had come before us (don’t worry; like at chain steakhouses in the US, throwing shells on the ground is encouraged). The weather wasn’t even that great—it was the end of February and skies were overcast; I was wrapped in a long puffer coat from my time in Chicago, and you know it was cold because David had a scarf tied around his neck—but there was something truly magical about the time, the place, the smell of the sea, the chatter of French locals nearby.
Not to burst this idyllic scenario I’ve just painted for you, but we ended up eating a lot of oysters—three dozen between us to be exact, all from different producers. They were just so good, and honestly baratÃsima.3 We didn’t know it at the time, but a couple of days later in Saint-Malo, we would find smaller oysters at a restaurant menu for more than double the price. How could we not take advantage? Plus, it’s not like oysters are exactly filling; I slurped down a little over a dozen on my own and finished off my lunch with a crepe at a neighboring shop.
Post-oysters (but pre-crepe), David and I walked down to the sand to take a look at the oyster beds, where the mollusks are farmed. Due to the tide, we were only able to see the closest racks, but it was impresionante4 to see the place where our lunch had come from. A true farm-to-table (sea-to-table?) experience.
Cancale was such a great adventure that at first I felt like it was going to ruin oysters for me forever. How would I ever go back to eating normal oysters? My inner culinary snob started sneering about how no oysters could ever compare, and I started scheming reasons to make the 12 hour drive from Madrid. Driving half a day to eat huîtres5 wouldn’t be that insane, right?
In reality, I’ve gone back to eating oysters like a mere mortal just fine. I’ve had them a couple of times in Madrid, and once on a recent trip to Málaga. Are they the same as freshly-shucked oysters eaten by the sea? Not exactly. But I’m also happy to have gotten the opportunity to experience Cancale, and the fact that I can readily eat high-quality raw oysters right here in Spain is not lost on me.
Just don’t judge me if you catch me planning my next vacation to Brittany.
For anyone looking to take your own trip to Cancale, I’ll leave you with some links below:
Offical page of the oyster market in Cancale
Article about oysters from Brittany Tourism
National Geographic’s article on how to spend a weekend in the Emerald Coast of Brittany
Great article from Culture Trip with more info on the history of oysters in Cancale, as well as the two different types of oysters you can find there
How about you guys? Are you oyster fans? Do you prefer them raw or cooked? Have you ever been to Cancale? I’m excited to hear from you in the comments below!
See you Friday!
Ki
Toldo: Awning
Ostra: Oyster
BaratÃsima: Super cheap
Impresionante: Awesome, impressive, memorable
Huîtres: Oysters, in French
I always were scared of oysters - they aren't the most nice looking seafood to eat, but I absolutely love them now. I go down to the coast of England to a little town called Whistable. It's a small seaside area and the oysters are freshly caught everyday. I've seen the fishermen and a big truck out on the beach during low tide picking oysters, which brings me to a bit of joy to see it soo fresh. Do you pair it with anything? I had quite a bit of tabasco for a spicy quick and little bit of horseradish.
I'm so glad you loved one of my favourite towns in the world to eat.
Also, much to my heartbreak, we had a home there for 12 years and I've never sat on those steps to eat oysters, I always had them in a restaurant because I'm the only one in m family who likes them!