Aw shucks: Oyster farmers dish on aquaculture

Did you ever wonder why oysters have different shapes? What makes oysters taste differently?

Ask an oyster farmer.

A hundred years ago, New York oysters were a commodity eaten by everyone, cheap and as readily available as a bag of chips. But how is today’s oyster different? On Friday, March 11, Charity Robey will lead a discussion on Zoom about how oysters are raised with three local oyster farmers; Ben Gonzalez of Southold Bay Oysters, Stefanie Bassett of Little Ram Oysters, and Phil Mastrangelo of Oysterponds.

They’ll discuss the differences in appearance and taste in oysters grown in different conditions, and how New York oysters are different from other cultivated oysters. They’ll also talk about the reasons why oyster aquaculture is growing in the state, and what some of the challenges are.

The event will showcase some of the panelist’s cultivated oysters for purposes of illustration and comparison, but, alas, not for sampling.

A bit about the discussion leader, Ms. Robey: Her writing is rich, she shows a passion for her subject and gets you involved in that passion. She helps you learn more about what makes her subjects tick.

Ms. Robey is on the staff of the Shelter Island Reporter as a columnist and feature writer, and her work appears in the northforker magazine. Her New York Times piece about the die-off of Peconic Bay scallops in 2019 helped bring attention to the links between the health of wild shellfish on Long Island and human-induced climate change.

A food historian, her paper on how New York farmers create perfect oysters will be published by the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery this spring, and she is a programming chair for the Culinary Historians of New York.

Follow her on Twitter: @crobey; Instagram: charityrobey; website: charityrobey.com

The presentation will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Please register at least 30 minutes in advance at the library website, shelterislandpubliclibrary.org/online-events/friday-night-dialogue-oyster-farmers 

Or call 631-749-0042, Jocelyn Ozolins.