How Lewis Carroll Indirectly Popularized Oysters And Guinness
We all know that many foods are meant to be complementary, and different tastes and textures can be combined to create truly delicious dishes. Salty peanut butter is heightened by a slathering of sweet, fruity jelly, and you can use crunchy peanut butter for a textural typhoon (via Restaurant Clicks). The tang of smooth, creamy blue cheese sauce tempers the spicy vinegar bit of a buffalo wing.
Flavor pairings aren't simply important when making the most balanced plate. Knowing which food pairs with which beer is downright essential – Webstaurantstore suggests that hoppier IPAs should be served with rich dishes, like steak or barbecue. In contrast, light lagers and wheat beers could provide much-needed relief during a spicy meal. Guinness and oysters are another popular pairing. The reason that the seemingly strange combination of seafood and stout has long been served to tipsy tavern goers can be attributed, at least in part, to "Alice in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll.
A walrus and a carpenter walk into a bar
According to Interesting Literature, Lewis Carroll penned the poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" as his followup to the famous fairytale "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There," per Internet Archive. In the novel, Tweedledee and Tweedledum recite the lengthy poem to a harried Alice. The poem is largely nonsensical and follows the titular walrus and carpenter as they walk along a beach with a gaggle of anthropomorphic oysters, ending when the unlikely pair slurp down the unsuspecting mollusks.
Patricia Medcalf, in her 2016 paper "Guinness and Food: Ingredients in an Unlikely Gastronomic Revolution," tells us that in 1929, the now-defunct British magazine "The Sketch" put out an ad that drew inspiration from Carroll's poem (via TU Dublin). In the parody poem, subtitled "Without Apologies to Lewis Carroll," the walrus and the carpenter develop a powerful thirst for Guinness, which they ultimately use to wash down their oyster pals.
Why oysters and Guinness work so well together
Medcalf's "Guinness and Food: Ingredients in an Unlikely Gastronomic Revolution" also reveals that the first historical mention of oysters and Guinness being served alongside one another came several decades before Lewis Carroll's poem, in 1937. In a letter to his sister Sarah, Benjamin Disraeli, who would become the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, said he enjoyed the pairing at a celebration.
It's unlikely that the legacy of Carroll alone would be fuel enough to keep the tradition of serving oysters with Guinness aflame. Fortunately, the pairing holds up, flavor-wise, and doesn't need to coast on the fame of Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
According to The New York Times, Guinness is rich without being too heavy, making it the perfect beverage to have on hand when slurping salty oysters. Guinness is often used to complement salty foods — for example, this slow cooker beef and Guinness stew. If you want to try this centuries-old boozy pairing, grab a six-pack of Guinness at your local liquor store and head to Whole Foods for the retail chain's fabulous weekly oyster deal.