{"id":3884,"date":"2012-09-17T14:56:33","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T19:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=3884"},"modified":"2024-07-02T13:33:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T13:33:07","slug":"oyster-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=3884","title":{"rendered":"Oyster Culture: Cultivating the foodways of a Virginia coastal community"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
UNC cultural historian Bernie Herman, chair of the American Studies department, in Westerhouse Creek. (photo courtesy of Bernie Herman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bernie Herman<\/a> is not a marine biologist, but he knows an awful lot about oysters. For instance, it doesn\u2019t take much space to grow the mollusks. The gathering space on campus between UNC Student Stores and Lenoir Hall fondly known as The Pit \u201cwould easily grow a million,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more. One oyster filters roughly 50 gallons of water a day. It takes about 24 months for a native oyster to grow to \u201cmarket size.\u201d Oysters need substrate \u2014 a hard surface like recycled oyster shells \u2014 on which to settle.<\/p>\n

Herman, the George B. Tindall Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Folklore, raises about 70,000 oysters in a private restoration effort on roughly five acres of \u201clease ground\u201d owned by the state of Virginia. Herman\u2019s \u201cWesterhouse Pinks\u201d are cultivated in Westerhouse Creek on the Eastern Shore, a slender saltwater peninsula across the 20-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel from touristy Virginia Beach. The shore community, which has a long history of persistent poverty, is also rich in local food, from oysters and clams to soft-shell crabs, spot fish and snapping turtles. Locals from miles around gather to consume the latter at an annual turtle party hosted by Theodore Peed. This is quite literally, Herman says, \u201cthe South you never ate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Eastern Shore oyster grower Tom Gallivan shows off his Shooting Point Oysters. (photo courtesy of Bernie Herman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 6, 2012 : The temperature and stillness relegate oyster work to the early hours in the day when the air is still cool and the morning winds are stirring. \u2026 The first cage was full to bursting \u2014 in fact, the oysters were pushing the lid up and off. These are older native oysters that possess a pinkish hue to their shells that is particularly evident on new bill growth. \u2014 from Bernie Herman\u2019s oyster diary<\/em><\/p>\n

Herman lived here as a small boy, eating oysters and clams and puffer fish, also called \u201cswelling toads.\u201d It\u2019s a place \u201cdefined by a powerful sense of belonging, a place where you drive around on the back roads and you always wave, a place where folks pull together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

How do you play to the strengths of an area with a distressed economy? What does this place already do best? \u00a0These are the questions that Herman the cultural historian brought to the table with an idea for heritage-based, sustainable economic development.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes the Eastern Shore of Virginia have a cuisine that is as complex and varied as say New Orleans or Charleston \u2014 no it doesn\u2019t. But it has a special cuisine,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd so I started talking with folks, documenting local foods, collecting recipes (like clam fritters) and listening to the narratives that go with food and place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mesh bags of shell (cultch) will be set out as a reconstructed reef that will provide a place for oyster larvae to grow. (photo courtesy of Bernie Herman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He also involved his undergraduate students in the effort. Lauren Shor (American studies \u201911), wrote her senior honors thesis on the cultural history of clam farming. She and Dylan Hubbard (business administration \u201911) helped Herman bring 10 of the nation\u2019s top food writers, chefs and culinary historians for a two-day immersion on the Eastern Shore in 2010. Author Molly O\u2019Neill included stories and recipes from the Eastern Shore in her cookbook, One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to bring the food to somebody; it\u2019s very different to get out there on Hog Island and you\u2019re seven or eight miles off shore and you\u2019re standing knee deep in water \u2026 with seven or eight million clams at your feet,\u201d Herman says.<\/p>\n

May 15, 2011: [Last] November, we held an oyster tasting in Chapel Hill at 3Cups; in March we convened with Lorraine Eaton [food writer at The Virginian-Pilot] and conducted a six-creek-plus seaside taste test. Not unsurprisingly everyone held forth that their oyster was best. The larger point is that from creek to creek the flavor profiles varied as significantly as if we were tasting wines. \u2014 from Bernie Herman\u2019s oyster diary<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition to what has become an annual oyster love fest at 3Cups, Herman worked with oyster grower and mentor Tom Gallivan of Shooting Point Oysters<\/a> and Eastern Shore seafood trucker Dean Hickman, who now makes a weekly run down South to area restaurants. One of the star chefs who has been supportive of Herman\u2019s efforts is Andrea Reusing of Chapel Hill\u2019s Lantern <\/a>restaurant, praised for fusing fresh local ingredients with Asian flavors. Herman regularly sets aside some of his \u201cWesterhouse Pinks\u201d for Reusing\u2019s use.<\/p>\n

Herman has also written essays about the cuisine of the Eastern Shore for Southern Cultures<\/em> <\/a>journal. He\u2019s had some successes promoting the region\u2019s unique foodways, yet \u201cthere\u2019s still a lot of work to do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to keep up the effort to get the word out there, create awareness and hopefully increase market demand,\u201d he says. \u201cI hope this could serve as a model for other communities. It would be great to work with UNC students and a North Carolina community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnvironmentalists, scientists and others would do very well to listen to the anecdotal knowledge of a person who has spent 10, 15 or 50 years working on the water. \u2026 That\u2019s part of what a real liberal arts education should teach you is how to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Herman\u2019s essay on Peed\u2019s turtle party<\/a>, watch a video of an oyster filtering water, and learn about UNC marine scientists\u2019 oyster work. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

[Story by Kim Weaver Spurr ’88, fall 2012 <\/em>Carolina Arts & Sciences magazine<\/em> ]<\/p>\n

Read more stories about water:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Troubled waters<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fluid Music<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Future of the Outer Banks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Water in the Classroom<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Precious Resource<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cultural historian Bernie Herman is helping to preserve and cultivate the foodways of a special Virginia coastal community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,15,13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-social-sciences","category-undergraduate-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3884"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45509,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3884\/revisions\/45509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}