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The big oyster: History on the half shell
Kurlansky, M. (2006). The big oyster: History on the half shell. Ballantine Books: New York. ISBN 0-345-47638-7. 307 pp.

Available in  Author 
    VLIZ: Mollusca (General) MOL.103 [103956]

Keywords
    ANW, USA, New York
    Cultures > Shellfish culture > Mollusc culture > Oyster culture
    Eukaryotes > Animals > Invertebrates > Mollusca > Bivalvia > Shellfish > Oysters
    Fauna > Aquatic organisms > Aquatic animals > Shellfish
    Oysters
    Reefs > Oyster reefs
    New York [Marine Regions]
    Marine/Coastal

Author  Top 
  • Kurlansky, M.

Abstract
    Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster. For centuries New York was famous for this particular shellfish, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s life that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for all classes, and a natural filtration system for the city’s congested waterways. Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the seventeenth-century founding of New York to the death of its oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.

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