Oysters for Breakfast at the Farmer’s Market

Every Saturday morning, Kate and I go to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market and eat oysters for breakfast. This is a photo of her last weekend. She looks cranky but it’s really impatience. You can see the pile of shells on her lap, and she’s pointing and saying, “More!”

She always draws a crowd when she eats oysters at the market. People are stunned that a toddler would willingly eat raw oysters. But why not? I figure if I get her hooked on them now, maybe she’ll love them for the rest of her life — just like her father and I do.

I’m glad she loves oysters because they are one of the most nutrient-dense foods — right up there with liver. And of course when you eat them raw, you get all the enzymes, too.

A single 3-ounce serving of oysters supplies 31 percent of the daily value for iron, 268 percent for vitamin B12 and 509 percent for zinc.

B12 is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells, the maintenance of the nervous system, and growth and development in children.

"Called the intelligence mineral, zinc is required for mental development, for healthy reproductive organs (particularly the prostate gland), for protein synthesis and collagen formation. Zinc is also involved in the blood sugar control mechanism and thus protects against diabetes." (Source: Weston A. Price Foundation Mineral Primer)