Cucumber + Lemon = Oyster

I have been told tonight, and in no uncertain terms, that the though I am about to post now could qualify me for life internment in a mental hospital. It is therefore fit for publication on the web, this most wonderful library of the weird and the bizarre.

I was in the pub tonight, with two friends. In the pub? Surely not! You never go to the pub!, I hear you say. Anyway, we ordered food. I will spare you the episode where the kitchen staff tried to convince us the breaded scampi we had been given were really the fried camembert wedges we had ordered in disguise. All dishes came with salad and funky edible decoration composed of thin slices of cucumber and similarly thin slices of lemon. The artful arrangement of said decoration meant that some slices of cucumber were lying on slices of lemon. As I like cucumber, I decided to eat some of the decoration. I discovered, to my surprise, that the combined taste of cucumber flavoured with lemon was very much like the taste of oyster. I shared my view with my friends who looked at me incredulously but refused to taste the cucumber and verify whether I was indeed off my rocker, as they were implying (well, especially one of them, who shall remain incognita).

Assuming I am not completely potty, I'm sure there's an explanation for it. Maybe the molecules that produce the taste of lemon added to the ones that produce the taste of cucumber react in a way that transform them into molecules that are very close to the ones that produce the taste of oysters. Anyone who has eaten ceviche will agree that it is undeniable that lemon does trigger a chemical reaction in other foods. Maybe this is not that far fetched after all. It would also explain why lemon goes so well with oysters, and most seafood for that matter.