THE world abounds in sandwiches, but in your correspondent’s view there are only three truly great ones: the Vietnamese banh mi, the Ashkenazi bagel with lox and the oyster po’ boy—a New Orleans creation that has seeped outward from the bayou with varying degrees of success (ordering one in Mobile or Galveston is probably fine; order one in Boston at your own risk). The fat, sweet Gulf of Mexico oyster (are) pulled from waters very near those fouled daily by thousands of gallons of the Deepwater Horizon’s oil.

Customers are staying away, both from the seafood and the region itself, which depends on summer tourism. Indeed, John Ray Nelson, who owns Bon Secour Fisheries in Bon Secour, Alabama, said that the area has been hurt less by the spill itself than by “the media, always looking for a tarball on the beach”.

Read it at The Economist

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