Paul,

At 11:26 AM 4/11/00 -0400, you wrote:

>Yet in the many species of the "scallop"
>tribe that are used as human food, only one small piece, the adductor muscle
>that holds the two shell valves together, is eaten.  >

Culinary conchology (malacology?) is one of my favorite topics (it's almost
lunch time here). The whole scallop animal is customarily eaten in dishes
from the N Mediterranean cuisine sensu latu (i.e., France, Spain, Portugal,
and global ramifications of these cultures) and possibly in many other
areas of the world where folks are more culturally oriented toward
consumption of seafood. The whole thing tastes just like... scallop! I
enjoyed a great dish of (many, whole) _Argopecten purpuratus_ baked in a
sauce of garlic butter and cream while in Coquimbo, Chile (E Pacific) last
year. No, you won't find this in Red Lobster!

Jose


__________________________________________________________________________
José H. Leal, Ph.D.
Director, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor-in-chief, THE NAUTILUS
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