Mussel Mania
March 11th, 2008 by Tiffany Miller
If I could live on any food for the rest of my life, it would be fish. Coming from Hawaii, I almost do already. I absolutely love seafood of any kind. But there has always been something about shellfish which has, well, repelled me. Perhaps it has something to do with eating the entire animal, organs and all…
In preparation for the Wild Foods Festival I was heading to, I thought I should wake up my more adventurous taste buds. First stop - Havelock, the green-lipped Mussel Capital of New Zealand. There is a restaurant there called The Mussel Pot - you can’t miss it because there is a huge pot of mussels clinging precariously to the roof. It is a cute place perfect for lunch after driving through the Marlborough wine country. I ordered my small pot of the slimy little molluscs and gave it a go. They weren’t bad. I have to say I am still not a fan, but they were pretty good for someone who finds them generally repelling. In fact, I ate them all.
While driving out of Takaka, I came upon the Mussel Inn, where I gave mussels one last chance - and now I think I may actually be enjoying them. Though I suspect that is their awesome beer talking. This place was a funky mix of tourists, locals and transient hippies wandering through its rustic timber doorway and mingling at its long wooden tables. It is a real classic, and well worth a stop. Even if the only ‘mussels’ you find appealing are of the Brad Pitt variety.
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