Fruits de mer…
I completed another window drawing and shared /assaulted/teased the Pont-Avenians with my take on a local favorite: fruits de mer (fruits of the sea).
It’s a horrifying, visceral, straight from the “primordial ooze” culinary offering that had to have originated as a bet or a drunken dare. “Jean, I’ll give you five francs to eat whatever I scrape off this underwater rock…”
You’re presented with a huge mound of artfully arranged sea snails, shrimp, mussels, oysters and crab on a bed of seaweed. Next to your platter is a selection of wicked little hooks, pliers, dainty spoons and mallets that are used to liberate the briny, shapeless nuggets. People rip into, stroke, tear, split, suck and devour this “fruit” with an unrestrained, un-French, primal abandon that is embarrassing to witness. I blush and confront my crepe with the same “where do I look?” panic I experience when I see couples making out on the metro or when monkeys masturbate at the zoo.
All things underwater freak me out so to willingly eat what appear to be flawed, biological prototypes or prehistoric remnants pushes a gastronomical button or two.
It’s also really expensive.
To stay true to the character of the region, my platter is offered up by a beefy, tattooed sailor arm…
”Comment dit-on sublimate?”
CLICK TO ENLARGE AND SEE THE DETAILS…
cut out sections lit up at night
August 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
It’s wonderful that it has separate lives during day and night. Rather clever.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Oh dear, you make me laugh until I pee my breeches! I have developed an obession with Palissy (Bernard and then there are a couple of revivals, Portugese and French) that actually made me take a ceramics class last year. I didnt know the name was “fruits de mer”, most appropriate(or am I thinking merd?). If you havent looked it up yet you will love it.
Im in P., OR this week and was hoping to see you but Im so jealous and excited you get to be somewhere else.
Another time,
Love you,
Iris (Moore)