[wcm_nonmember]<!– –><div style="text-align: center"><!– –><img src="https://cdn.sorted.club/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Bucket-List-graphic.png" alt="" scale="0" style="max-width: 30%; margin-top: 20px"><!– –><!– –><h2><!– –>Unlock this Story<!– –></h2><!– –><p style="padding-bottom:25px"><!– –>Stories from the 'Bucket List' book are only available to members<!– –></p><!– –><a class="et_pb_button" background-color: #ffffff"<!– –>href="/product/digital-club-membership/">join the club</a><!– –></div><!– –><!– –>[/wcm_nonmember]<!– –><!– –>[wcm_restrict]<!– –><!– –><div class="page" title="Page 14"><!– –><div class="section"><!– –><div class="layoutArea"><!– –><div class="column"><!– –><!– –><p>Gavin loves food, and not just the eating and <b>cooking, but writing about it and photographing </b>it too. His dish of oysters with shallot vinaigrette is perhaps one of the simplest in the book, but it packs a punch and is definitely a bucket list worthy experience. His birthday treat is to head over to Billingsgate market in London at 4am and pick up a case of 24 oysters for lunch, which usually costs about £15, a total bargain. These are the freshest you’ll find in London, as traders pack boxes to send out to the fishmongers and restaurants across the capital each day.</p><!– –><!– –><p>The first oyster he ate was in a restaurant in Singapore when his university friend, Franklin, took him out for dinner and insisted on ordering oysters. It was awful. Slimy, slippery with an odd flavour, but Gavin was intrigued. Over time, <b>he has tried oysters at any opportunity </b>and found they’re a delicate flavour which takes time to learn. Now he can't resist them, they’ve got him hooked and he can feel the excitement at the prospect of a large box of oysters to share.</p><!– –><!– –><p>They make the perfect party gift too. He’s taken a box to ‘pot luck’ parties on a few occasions and everyone wants to get involved; there’s always someone who wants to try an oyster for the first time and a queue of people who want to learn how to ‘shuck’ an oyster. He loves this excitement around food; people get intrigued and are desperate to learn. <b>One of the most rewarding aspects of food is showing people something new.</b></p><!– –><!– –><p>As well as being simple and delicious, Gavin says that oysters are possibly the most <b>sustainable and environmentally friendly</b>food on the planet. They cause less harm to the environment than harvesting vegetables and require zero pesticides or herbicides to grow them. They also improve the quality of the ecosystem which they grow within. On top of this, they’re packed full of minerals, a great blast of nutrients in a shell.</p><!– –><!– –><p>Trying oysters is definitely a bucket list experience, but more than that, <b>trying any new or intimidating food for the first time</b>should be on your bucket list. It’s exciting and you might just find a new favourite!</p><!– –><!– –><p>Gavin mentions that there’s not much of a recipe to his dish. It’s oysters with finely chopped shallots soaked in high quality red wine vinegar. Bon appétit!</p><!– –><!– –></div><!– –></div><!– –></div><!– –></div><!– –><!– –>[/wcm_restrict]