The last five years has brought a large
proliferation of Oysters to the market. Where as the menu of a few years
ago was lucky to include the ubiquitous “Blue Point” the menus of today
offer a range of oyster varieties. With the popularity of Oyster Bars, it
is not unusual to see as many as 20 different oysters offered to the discriminating
consumer. Oyster varieties such as the Quilcene, Hama Hama, Hog Island,
Malpeque and Kumamoto have all but become house hold names and now even
more recognizable to the under 30 crowd than the Beatles.
But
where do all these oysters come from? When did oysters start competing
with Wines as to the length of the menu dedicated to them?
Back in the mid seventies
when fresh shucked oysters were an oddity on most menus, especially those
not located near by the sea, we were pretty much stuck with “Blue Points”.
Even in Seattle where Pacific oysters were being raised in large quantities,
it was rare to see a local oyster on the menu. If you were lucky enough
to live in Maryland, Florida or Long Island, New York, your taste buds
were treated to local delicacies such as the Chincoteague, Shinnecock
or Apalachicola but those oysters rarely made it out of the county. Then
in 1977, a small oyster farm called Pigeon Point decided to raise the
Pacific oyster for the half shell trade. That began the stampede. Since
then, the number of oyster farms on the west coast dedicated to raising
half shell oysters has kept pace with the number of wineries in Napa producing
Chardonnay.
Originally when we
first started raising the half shell pacific oysters, we didn’t know
what name to sell them under. The entire staff at Pigeon Point was brought
together and instructed to come up with a marketing name for our farm
raised, half shell, pacific oysters. When that task proved too daunting
for us mere biologists, a high-powered marketing consultant was brought
in. This in the days when no one even knew what a “consultant” was. All
kinds of names where thrown on the table including “”West Point”, the
Pacific Coast answer to the Blue Point.” The one suggestion put forth
by the biologist; why not call the oyster the “Pigeon Point”? This was
ruled totally unacceptable by the high-powered, very expensive marketing
consultant. “Ah, Pigeon Point Oysters will make the customers think of
Pigeon shit…” said the highly paid, very well dressed consultant. So it
came to pass that the first pacific oyster being raised specifically for
the half shell trade was to be called the “Rocky Point Oyster” as it was
quite rocky out there at Pigeon Point… and a new oyster was born.
One thing the high powered, expensive, well dressed marketing consultant
didn’t do before cashing his five figure payment for services was making
sure that no one else had the name Rocky Point Oyster registered. Eventually,
once the Rocky Point name hit the market place, we were issued a cease
and desist order from the “Rock Point Oyster Co.” in Samish Bay, Washington,
an oyster farm in business since the early 1900’s that saw to registrating
their name. So the $50,000 Rocky Point Oyster became the now infamous
Pigeon Point oyster and not once has someone mentioned bird shit.
Bill
Marinelli is known throughout Asia as the “Oyster King”. A Marine biologist
turned fish monger, he has been distributing live shellfish and fresh
fish around the USA and Asia since 1982.
Marinelli Shellfish
2383 S. 200th Street
Seattle, WA 98198
phone: 206-870-0233
fax: 206-870-0238