Are oysters vegan? | Food | The Guardian

Oysters are animals, so the answer’s simple, right? Apparently not. Welcome to the moral maze of bivalves and eating things with faces ...

Is that a trick question, Elia, or are you just having a laugh? Something tells me I’m bound to get into all sorts of bother for even dipping my toes into these particular waters, so here goes nothing.

At face value, the answer would appear to be an open-and-shut case (#sorrynotsorry). Oysters are bivalves, and as such are clearly much more closely related to the likes of clams than to any plant matter, so they’re animals, right? And The Vegan Society defines a vegan as a person who avoids “all animal foods such as meat (including fish, shellfish and insects), dairy, eggs and honey – as well as avoiding animal-derived materials, products tested on animals and places that use animals for entertainment”, which surely rules out oysters full stop. “Veganism is about rejecting the notion that animals are food or products, therefore we don’t view oysters as something to eat,” a Society spokeswoman confirms. Phew, I’ve no idea why I was worried now. This culinary agony aunting lark is easy: 130 words in, and I’ve already earned my corn. I’m off to the pub …

Er, not so fast, sunshine, because this is where those waters get murky. You see, there is a school of thought that argues the exact opposite, even though that may seem a wildly have-cake-and-eat-it opinion. Far from it, says chef Alexis Gauthier, of Gauthier in Soho, one of the UK’s top vegan-friendly fine dining haunts, complete with a £70 nine-course vegan tasting menu. Gauthier is himself vegan, yet as far as he’s concerned, it’s fine to eat oysters. “You what?” you may well ask, but let’s hear the man out.

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