Original text: "Father was impressed by this noble way of eating."
This question goes back to Maupassant's time, when the novel was published in 1883 during the French Third Republic (1871-1940).
The reason why eating oysters is elegant and noble, first of all, the oysters are expensive, otherwise eating field snails can eat that feeling?
1, 3 oysters = 60 pieces of baguette = 10 lamb chops = 5 days' wages for seamstresses = 3 days of daily expenses
From the original text, it should be that 3 people (father, two sisters) each ate 1 oyster, for a total price of 2.5 francs. But I suspect that the son-in-law also ate one, according to the father", "staring at the daughter-in-law who was crowded around the oyster sellers.".
2 francs 1895 (1870-1895)
At that time, the currency, 1 franc = 20 su = 100 raw dings.
Les Misérables was written in 1862, about 20 years before My Uncle Hule, and can be referred to in the price recorded in it.
1 piece of baguette = 1 su = 0.05 francs;
1 lamb chop = 6 to 7 su = 0.3 to 0.35 francs
17-hour sewing worker salary = 12 Su = 0.6 francs
Daily diet = 18 to 20 su = 0.9 to 1 franc
The third paragraph of "My Uncle Hule" mentions that "the sisters make their own clothes, and when they buy fifteen copper and one meter of lace, they often have to argue about the price for half a day", and the English version of fifteen coppers is "fifteen centimes", that is, 15 raw dings.
15 oysters still have to bargain, eat 2.5 francs (250 raw dice) oysters, and give 0.5 francs (50 raw diced) tips, these 3 oysters actually cost 3 francs, equivalent to eating 60 baguettes or 10 lamb chops or sewers for 5 days' wages or 3 days of daily expenses.
It can be seen that the Le Havre family really has little money, and eating oysters is very luxurious.
There are two practical reasons for the luxury of eating oysters.
First, the economy was not good at that time.
From 1883 to 1896, the French economy almost stopped growing, and there was an economic crisis the year before the publication of "My Uncle Hule", and more than 7,000 enterprises collapsed.
Second, oyster production was not high at the time [2].
From 1836 to 1847, the French fishing port and oyster center Cancale caught about 50 million to 70 million European oysters a year. By 1856, the average annual production had fallen to 18 million, eventually reaching a trough of about 1 million to 2 million per year in the early 1860s. It wasn't until 1868, when a ship dumped about 600,000 spoiled Portuguese oysters into the sea, and some small oysters multiplied, that production began to recover.
The oyster is expensive, making eating it an upper-class custom, and for the poor Le Havre family, watching others eat expensive things they have not eaten, how to eat it feels fresh.
2. How to eat oysters to be elegant?
Let's first recall, how to eat Western food noble and elegant?
The restaurant is grade enough, the atmosphere must be felt, the waiter service should be good, the knives and forks have different uses, the dishes are exquisitely small, the jazz is put, and the diners have exquisite makeup...
How was "My Uncle Hule" written?
My father suddenly saw two gentlemen inviting two beautifully dressed wives to eat oysters. An elderly sailor in rags took a knife and pried open the oysters and handed them to the two gentlemen, who then passed them on to the two wives. They also ate in a very elegant way, with a delicate handkerchief holding the oyster shell and extending its mouth slightly forward so as not to stain the clothes; then the mouth quickly moved slightly and drank the juice, and the oyster shell was thrown into the sea.
Makeup, dishes, and services are all there, but the environment and atmosphere are too different.
In fact, the wife's way of eating is not "elegant", the mouth is extended forward, a slight movement, let me imagine the frog predation, this mainly to avoid dirty clothes, rather than really elegant. Besides, what elegance is there to throw the oyster shell into the sea?
So why does this way of eating still make "my father" feel good?
The first is that the wife is dressed up beautifully, and the beautiful people eat everything pleasing to the eye.
There is also the "more elegant" eating of the Billé Havre family. How did the Le Havre family eat? Hungry, probably as soon as the food was on the table, everyone grabbed it, ate it and made a sound. In contrast, Mrs. Lady's way of tasting food is undoubtedly "more elegant".
Moreover, the oyster shell is passed from an elderly sailor with ragged clothes to his wife through a gentleman, and is held with a handkerchief, which is very gentlemanly and exquisite. Behind this is the high-class style, which is the most attractive place for the Le Havre family.
What about the truly elegant and noble way of eating in the era of "My Uncle Hule"?
As can be seen from postcards from the BelleÉpoque period[3], it should be sitting in the restaurant, oysters with Demi-Sec champagne, and a special oyster fork.
