The Essential Oyster: A Salty Appreciation of Taste and Temptation

Oyster farming has brought the lowly oyster from near-extinction to new status as a farm-to-table commodity in high demand among the cognoscenti. Rowan Jaconsen is a passionate oyster lover who writes with the soul of a poet. Think of The Essential Oyster as his insider's guide to the oysters of all North America's coasts, not to mention a handful of others. With flair, grace and elegance, his book surveys the world of oysters and oystering, focusing on what consumers crave: tasting notes, backstories, and an oyster conoisseur's guide to merroir (the oyster world's equivalent to terroir from the wine world), so influential in the essence of each oyster. If you love oysters or want to learn more about the art, science and tasting of these bivalves, this is your book--and you couldn't have a better-informed or more enthusiatic guide.

Personally, I do not like oysters, but my husband LOVES them - so I got this for him for Christmas. It is a very easy-to-read extensive work that covers more about oysters than I ever wanted to know. He loves the book, and frankly, I have really enjoyed reading it, myself!If you have an oyster-lover in your family, do not hesitate to purchase the book - it is quite an amazing oyster "exposé"!

This is a great and easy to read book that is full of lots of info about the history of oysters and their interaction with man on the West Coast... I'm sure it covers oysters on the East Coast as well but I can't get my Lady to close her Pie Hole long enough for me to finish reading this wonderful book. Great pictures and makes me want to indulge in some oysters every time I pick it up.

If you are thinking about buying this book enough to read this review, buy it! You cannot be disappointed when it arrives. Do you want to learn how to eat an oyster (cocktail sauce? plain?) Do you want recipes that will make you grab a beer and start cooking? Do you want photographs that will amaze you with the astounding variety and beauty of nature (the world in a grain of sand, the Mona Lisa in an oyster shell)? And mostly, do you want some of the best thinking and writing about food and nature you'll come across this year? If you even think you might be interested in any of these, buy this book!

Excellent reviews of a good number of oysters. We've been taking it with us when we go out for oysters...we may look like goons, but soon we'll better understand what are likes and dislikes are. The photos and useful information make selecting tasty oysters an easier process now.

This book is absolutely gorgeous! From the cover to all the places where oysters are grown, it is perfect for a coffee table and a conversation starter. Perfect for that oyster lover.

Excellent descriptive review of the North American oyster scene. I bought a companion called The Connoisseurs Guide. This tome is equally effusive but has better illustrations. Also briefly covers other bivalves around the world, in addition to the 90 plus examples from the five categories of oysters. He covers each with type (Pacific, Eastern, Kumo, etc) and describes the methods of farming and harvesting. This, along with the aforementioned, provide all you need to know about NA oysters. By the way, both books contain glossaries of oyster joints, although this one omits Boston’s Union Oyster House, which is perplexing.

Great book for all oyster lovers. I did not know that there were that many variety of oysters. Beautifully illustrated. I recommend to anyone wanting to better understand this succulent bivale.

Beautiful book, with excellent information, great photos and a nice layout. My one criticism would be that it is very US centric, which I get as the author is American, but it would be good if his expertise had been able to give more input on a wider range of European oysters, as there are only a handful mentioned. But it's a great coffee table book that also includes recipes and offers great information at the beginning for people wanting to learn about the various species and so on.

Great resource.