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Oysters from Tide to Table in the Pacific Northwest

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Coastal Heritage and Cultural Resilience

Part of the book series: Ethnobiology ((EBL))

Abstract

This paper examines oyster harvesting, farming, and consumption in the Pacific Northwest from 1850 to the present. A range of archival cultural-historical, biological, environmental, and culinary source material is used to trace the interwoven relationship between people and edible oysters. The paper has several foci, including the historic oyster businesses focused primarily on Washington’s Puget Sound and Willapa Bay, the fate of the Ostrea lurida over time, and the introduction of nonnative oysters. The role of Japanese immigrants in the oyster industry in relation to the Alien Land Act and World War II is presented. The contemporary passion for oyster consumption is presented in the context of terroir or meroir, a true taste of place for oysters related to the oyster’s unique biology and ecology. The final section of the chapter covers human-induced stress on the oysters and their environment and profiles initiatives for building collaborative knowledge between scientists and community members. Encouraging, supporting, and expanding experiential opportunities for people to engage with oysters and their environment is part of building a foundation that can ultimately become local knowledge underpinning a resilient biocultural heritage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Language, Culture, and Society, College of Liberal Arts, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Lisa L. Price

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  1. Lisa L. Price
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Language, Culture, and Society, College of Liberal Arts, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Lisa L. Price

  2. CoLaboratorio de Oceanografía Social, Centro de Estudios en Geografía Humana, El Colegio de Michoacán, A.C., La Piedad, Michoacán, Mexico

    Nemer E. Narchi

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Price, L.L. (2018). Oysters from Tide to Table in the Pacific Northwest. In: Price, L., Narchi, N. (eds) Coastal Heritage and Cultural Resilience. Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99025-5_6

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