Day One

Hello Toronto, and all three of you reading this (that includes you mom). This is what I would call day one of something new for me, and let's hope something interesting for you.

On the Blog, I intend to lay out some information about what it is I do. I, am an Oyster Shucker.

On the most part, I have many people out there in the real world tell me that they have and oyster shucker in their kitchen drawer. Although I'm sure it is cozy, spooning the days away, a shucker is a person, and the oyster knife is the tool. Although some would probably argue otherwise.

An Oyster Shucker lives in an interesting world. Neither cook, nor bartender, the best Oyster Bars (and we will get to that later) will have the shuckers work on the bar, out front for all to see. We handle food preparation, and make some drinks, order food, and bus the tables. We can do it all, and yet there is no singular source of training. Shuckers are trained by apprenticeship, and learn about the world of the oyster either on their own, or is told to them, by friends in the business, or manuals developed by the corporate structure.

I learned my craft that way, by watching others, and creating my own technique, which I show to the next generation of shuckers coming up the line.

I will attempt to cover lot of what I know in this Blog, but please feel free to e-mail any relevant questions - and do go beyond Oysters - all seafood will be discussed, as I feel more information is needed out there to learn how we can better take care of our oceans, while still enjoying fish - one of the best sources for protein humans can savour!

For those folks who live in the Toronto area, I will post what fresh fish and shells are scheduled into Starfish on a weekly, and daily basis. If you are interested to know when your favorite seafood is arriving, then just subscribe to this blog, and it will come to your door, when the fish gets to mine.

For those who do not live close to Toronto, then, I will talk of my travels with the oyster, to many parts of the world. There will be places to go and photos to be seen. For folks who do not like seafood, and fish altogether, all is not lost as Oyster Shuckers cannot live by fish alone. Organic, natural, and wild meats and vegetables will be talked about as well, as I tend to like all foods...lucky me.

Day One, we have to start somewhere.