Food in Fiction: The Merry Wives of Windsor

Welcome to the first Food in Fiction post, a series that will highlight how food appears in various works of art, including literature, movies, and music. Food in Fiction will run every Friday.

Portrait of Shakespeare not eating an oyster.

Falstaff: I will not lend thee a penny.
Pistol: Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open. –
I will retort the sum in equipage.

The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act II, Scene II)
by William Shakespeare

This exchange is generally acknowledged to be the origin of the phrase.