Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm

Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm by Murray, Erin Byers. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780312681913.

Bill Bufords Heat meets Phoebe Damroschs Service Included in this unique blend of personal narrative, food miscellany, and history In March of 2009, Erin Byers Murray ditched her pampered city girl lifestyle and convinced the rowdy and mostly male crew at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, Massachusetts, to let a completely unprepared, aquaculture-illiterate food and lifestyle writer work for them for 12 months to learn the business of oysters. SHUCKED is part love letter, part memoir and part documentary about the worlds most beloved bivalves. An in-depth look at the work that goes into getting oysters from farm to table, SHUCKED shows Erins full-circle journey through the modern day oyster farming process and tells a dynamic story about the people who grow our food, and the cutting-edge community of weathered New England oyster farmers who are defying convention and looking ahead. The narrative also interweaves Erins personal story―the tale of how a technology-obsessed workaholic learns to slow life down a little bit and starts to enjoy getting her hands dirty (and cold). This is a book for oyster lovers everywhere, but also a great read for locavores and foodies in general.