THE SISSMAN CHRONICLES
Delicious (for Some), Nutritious (for all), and Efficacious
Recently, after a fine dinner at Bistro 146, one of the best seafood restaurants in our area, my curiosity was piqued (after my appetite had peaked) about the naturaland unnatural history of a component of my appetizer: the lonely oyster. Here is what I discovered.
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Nowadays, oysters are rare and relatively expensive. A glance at the menu of the venerable Grand Central Oyster. Bar & Restaurant (very accessible for Kendal residents who commute to the Big Apple by train) showed the price of a single oyster to range from #3.95 to #5.95 each.
However, this was not always the case. When the Dutch first colonized what we now know as New York and its environs, they were disappointed that the local oysters did not produce pearls, but they observed the popularity of the mollusk as a food among the Leni Lenape. Archeologists confirmed this later by discovering hidden large piles of discarded shells (called middens).
An oyster midden in Manhattan
Later, in the 19th century, Manhattan was the home of dozens and dozens of small “oyster bars” where almost everyone could afford to stop for a quick snack. The underlying reason for this affluence was that New York’s harbor and the banks of the lower Hudson were home to one of the largest colony of oysters in the world.
Oyster Stand in Fulton Market
Oysters were eaten not only for their taste, but for their high nutritional value. They are rich in protein, B-12, ojmega-3, and minerals. And oysters were not only consumed raw on the half shell but are the ingredients of a significant number of cooked recipes, such as oysters Rockefeller, fried oyster po-boys, oysters Kilpatrick, and various other fried preparations.
So, in what ways are these small briny critters “efficacious”? By their ability to filter and “clean” large volumes of water. A single oyster takes in and discharges about 50 gallons of sea water a day, absorbing the nutrients it needs and solidifying baneful substances to be deposited harmlessly on the ocean floor.
Our large oyster beds collapsed by the beginning of the 20th century, due, of course, to humankind’s fondness for unregulated predation and contamination of natural resources.
In 2014, two young New York entrepreneurs set out to remedy the appalling status of oysters in our harbor. They established the Billion Oyster Project (shall we call it BOP?). They have enlisted thousands of volunteers (mostly high school students) to attach embryonic oysters (called spat) to wooden poles that area then immersed in cordoned off areas along the shore until the little guys have matured to the point of having shells. With this natural protection against predators, the “teenage” oysters are then seeded along the banks of our harbors. So far, about 1.2 million oysters have been planted.
Billion Oyster Project volunteers work to replenish Manhattan’s oyster population,
I wish them continued success, primarily for the oysters’ beneficial effect on the environment, but also for the salutary influence that increased numbers may have on the price of one of my favorite foods.
Norman Sissman