Scallops, the queen of shells
Chance: the scallop is both a gourmet delicacy and a preserved resource in France's main shellfish beds. From October to mid-May, you'll have no hesitation in feasting on this melting, pearly muscle, which lends itself to the simplest as well as the most sophisticated preparations.
"Scallops: record abundance again in the Seine and Saint-Brieuc bays" For several years now, press releases from the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) have been invariably positive. The 2025-2026 season should follow the same trend. So, unlike other endangered seafoods, this bivalve mollusc, with its red-brown shell, can be enjoyed without a guilty conscience. And to taste its tender nuts in raw or cooked versions, in carpaccio, pan-fried, grilled, poached or in creamy, soya-flavoredwith soy, citrus or truffles, with or without its colored coral, whole or mixed in sauce.
Pilgrimage
This abundance at sea is all the more comforting given that it hasn't always been this way. With a history stretching back thousands of years, the mythological birthplace of Venus in Botticelli's famous painting, and Galicia's traditional emblem for pilgrims returning from Santiago de Compostela, was in danger at the end of the last century.the ransom of success due to the classic chain of events: after centuries of haphazard harvesting, dredging with motorboats in the mid-twentieth century facilitated catches (too much), to the detriment of the species' renewal.
