The glamour of the scallop

There is a gentle irony to the dish coquilles St Jacques: a decadent, rich preparation of one of our most luxurious seafoods takes its name from a saint who has inspired centuries of pilgrimage, and whose emblem came to symbolise modesty.

The eponymous St Jacques is St James the apostle, or James the Great. The scallop shell has long been associated with him, one legend being that St James once rescued a knight covered in scallops; another that when the remains of the saint were retrieved from a shipwreck, the ship – or perhaps even the body itself – was covered in the shells.

The scallop shell has come to represent the pilgrimage to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where the saint’s relics are said to be entombed. Scallop shells appear along the pilgrimage route on the Camino de Santiago, marking the way.