In Marseille, rock violet, a mollusk shunned but not sunk

The first time we encountered this mollusk was a few years ago on a seafood platter. "Eat it last," the Marseille fishmonger recommended. Because it feeds by filtering seawater, the rock violet is known for its powerfully iodized taste. "You either love it or you don't," admits the chef of Tuba (Marseille), Sylvain Roucayrol, who believes that the order of tasting is of little importance. The author of Fish . Cooking Fish from Marseille to Tokyo is a great fan of this shellfish found on the rocky bottoms of the Mediterranean coast.

That lunchtime, he served us some freshly opened violets de roche, to be enjoyed with a rouille prepared from a reduction of pastis, orange juice and bisque as well as yuzu butter. The chef ate his first violets de roche near Perpignan, in the legendary Cabaret restaurant in Montesquieu-des-Albères (which has since closed). "It was a completely unusual place, run by a former second-hand dealer, passionate about seafood. He would take his car to the auction of B