Friday, February 1, 2013

Kurlansky's Oyster: History on the HalfShell

This book focuses to a large part on NYC and the abundance of oysters in the early times of the US.  It is sad really that such a wonderful natural resource was destroyed by overeating and pollution.  We don't learn from our mistakes.

The middens in NY City were not religious and much of the collected material was dug as a resource to build roads and such.  Little now is left of accumulations that had been there for centuries of Indian inhabitation.

I am about half way throught the book, having started in the library.

Today I was fascinated with the oyster barges that were set up along the East River.  What a fascinating idea.  In the back came the oysters from the oystermen and out the front came retail sales, much like our own Shelly's in Homosassa.  Quite a few are represented in the book.
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I liked this view of the passing of the exciting time when small oyster places were all along the East River.

p.196   "It would all vanish in time.  Bridges would put an end to the all night street traffic of the ferries. and larger steamships would dock in the deeper water of the Hudson, abaondoning the East River as a working waterfront.  In time more food would enter the city by truck than ships, and the logic of the harbour front markets would be gone.  But in the nineteeth century there was no better New York experience than to go down to one of the markets late at night and eat oysters."

"An amiable English earl a few years ago paid a visit to the United States.  His great delight was to wander up and down Broadway at night and visit the principla oyster saloons in succession, regaling himself upon fired oysters at one place. stewed oysters at another,upon roasted oysters at a third, and winding up a the evening by a dish of oysters, a l'Anglaise.    On leaving New York to return to England. he miscalculated the time of sailing of the steamer. and found that he had an hour and a half upon his hands. "
So he returned to Broadway for more oysters.

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Chapter 9 coins a great term:

ostreamanical

And is in large part less history and more cookbook with some exciting and very old techniques in cooking oysters.

He returns to another visit by Dickens and tells some great eating stories of Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell.  It was all about being large eaters and their love of the fun of it and show of wealth.

Here too somewhere ??  are the stories of the immigrant gangs that ran New York.  It is quite interesting to see how tough the Irish immigrants were in those days.  Also, racism is covered.  Some of the Civil War was blamed on the blacks for some unknown reason.  And when they started immigrating North and taking poor folks jobs, the displaces workers were angry.

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"Ostracized in the Golden Age"

This chapter starts with explaining how restaurants created a social peeking order.  It is interesting the the food itself did not distinquish the classes.  Poor and rich alike ate oysters.

 

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