John Tothill

This was like at the height of Victorian London's obsession with oysters.

Oysters just came out of the Thames.

Londoners couldn't get enough oysters.

Edward Dander would go to these oyster restaurants and he would order dozens of oysters at a time.

I mean like 200, 300 oysters at a time.

And then he would draw a crowd and he would performatively eat all of them along with loaves of bread and kegs of ale.

And then when the bill arrived, Edward Dando would swear to God he thought it was free.

He claimed in court not to know how restaurants worked.

And in these magistrates' courts, he would always insist on representing himself.

And in his testimonies, he would always begin by saying, your worship, I was peckish.

And I refuse to go hungry in a land of plenty.

Of course, harsh 19th century justice.

He'd be thrown into jail, often for months on end.

When he was in jail, he was thrown into solitary confinement because he kept eating the rations of the other prisoners.

And then, and this is the clincher.

Edward Dando, every single time, on the day of his release, not the day after his release, on the day of his release, Edward Dando would walk from the prison gates to the nearest oyster restaurant and he would do it again.

That is a man who is free.

That is a man who knows himself.

And I love the story of Edward Dando.

Because for me, the story of Edward Dando reminds us of how much there is to be gluttonous for in the world.