Woman from China helps save Danish beaches from 'oyster invasion' - Sichuan style

Danish beaches are plagued with an infestation of Pacific oysters. PHOTO: WEIBO/DANISH EMBASSY IN CHINA
Sichuan-native Bian Miao Miao, her family and friends collecting oysters on a Danish beach. PHOTO: CHENGU BUSINESS DAILY

A woman from China has put into action her countrymen's vows to help Denmark with its "oyster invasion".

Ms Bian Miaomiao, with help from her family and friends, collected about 150kg oysters and turned them into a feast early this month, she shared on social media.

"Actively responding to the Danish Embassy's call, we ventured deep into the oyster disaster zone to help solve the problem... contributing to Chinese-Danish friendship," the Sichuan native said in her post.

The Danish Embassy in China created a stir on Weibo late last month with a post about how 500 tonnes of Pacific oysters are invading the beaches of Denmark.

The non-native species is crowding out the local Limfjord oysters, and have no natural predators, the post said.

It has proliferated wildly and beachgoers have to wear shoes as they smother the beaches.

"Visit the Danish coast to eat fresh oysters, is it a date?" the embassy added in its light-hearted post.

Oysters on a beach barbecue. PHOTO: CHENGDU BUSINESS DAILY

Chinese netizens immediately volunteered to eat the oysters to extinction and the post attracted more than 15,000 comments.

The embassy's online accounts were "were flooded by recipes from Chinese netizens", the embassy told The New York Times.

"I solemnly swear to join the Danish Oyster-Resistance Volunteer Army," said one.

The embassy has also received serious proposals from Chinese companies to import the oysters, it said.

Meanwhile, Ms Bian, who lives in Denmark and hails from Chengdu in Sichuan province, took it upon herself to get rid of some of the pesky molluscs.

Her story of how she collected 150kg oysters and devoured some with her family and European friends on May 7 went viral on social media.

They turned some oysters into an omelette. PHOTO: CHENGDU BUSINESS DAILY

Ms Bian, who lives in Arhus with her Danish husband, tried barbecuing, grilling and frying the oysters in an omelette.

She thought it would be a great way to entertain her parents who were in Denmark to visit her, she told Chengdu Business Daily.

The beach they went to was so full of oysters there was barely space to set foot, she said.

There were already some Chinese and Danish oyster pickers there, possibly due to the recent publicity.

After barbecuing some on the beach, they still had buckets to bring home, she added.

She used traditional Sichuan seasoning for some of the dishes, and shocked her friends, who were used to eating them raw with some lemon, she said.

But they soon warmed up to the spicy dishes and even plan to repeat the activity soon.

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