Oyster Geek.com

“Better be ready and not go, than go and not be ready."   ~J.O. Wintzell

Oystergeek.com

       My name is Tres Hundertmark, and I am the oyster geek. I created this website and blog to share my passion for oysters and oyster-related topics.  I offer it in hopes that those who enjoy it will feel free to add their knowledge and experiences in order to help create a source that all will find entertaining, be able to use as a tool to assist when traveling to find oyster bars and oyster farms, to discover new products and links to promote expanding knowledge and contacts, and to share oyster and oyster-related activities and events. 

One of the Original Oyster geeks

J. Oliver Wintzell

            I will not show Oliver’s photo on every blog post, but I will begin each with one of his many quotes.  If you have ever been lucky enough to have been in any of the many Wintzell’s  oyster houses you would have noticed the thousands of signs on the walls donning the many quotes that can be found in his book, Oysters and Politics and Bits of Wit and Wisdom the signs in Wintzell’s oyster house.  Oliver(1905-1980) was the quintessential shucker. He loved oysters, knowing all about them, shucking them chatting up his customers, and sharing with his community. You can learn more about Oliver in the ShuckersProfile section of Oystergeek.com

Let's go to an Oyster Festival

            If you live on the East coast, you are within driving distance of an oyster festival on the weekend of October 16th and 17th with both the Florida and North Carolina state oyster festivals happening.  If you can make it to St. Mary’s County oyster festival in Maryland you can watch the country's top shuckers compete for a trip to the world shucking championship in Ireland to represent the USA at the National Oyster shucking championship. You can also watch competitors in the National oyster recipe contest.  A little further north you can experience dozen after dozen of true blue point oysters in Oyster Bay LongIsland, New York for their oyster festival, or you can spend the weekend on Cape Cod for Wellfleet’s annual event. Regardless of which festival you choose, you are guaranteed to have a wonderful weekend of live music, wonderful seafood treats, cooking and shucking contests, cooking demonstrations, and oysters, oysters, oysters. Find out the details of these events and other fall festivals and bivalve celebrations inthe Oyster Event section on oystergeek.com. 

The Little Easy shucks the Big Easy

A helping hand

            I feel very fortunate to have an opportunity to become part of the community in my new home of Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Since I moved here in the spring I have had a chance to meet and work with a group of great folks whose kindness and generosity have made me feel welcome.  I left New Orleans to come to Cape Cod just a few days after the oil spill in the Gulf began and while I was excited to begin my new oyster adventure I knew that the oyster future in the Gulf was going to be bleak. 

            I am proud to work for an organization like Mac’s Seafood who, when huge companies like Red Lobster are running from Gulf oysters, a small family business in Cape Cod is looking for a way to aid fellow fishermen and seafood industry employees on the coast. Mac’s has pledged a percentage of the oyster sales from their restaurants, fish markets,and seafood wholesale business to seafood industry employees in the Gulf.

            Mac Hay is not the only one either. As a fishing and oyster community, the town came out to the Congregational church on a rainy Monday evening for a fundraising event. “Benefit the Bayou” brought New Orleans’ own Henry Butler to our town to support a foundation that will allow Wellfleetian’s to restore a mile of Louisiana wetlands. These are efforts that will not only help restore the coastline but also provide oysters with a better habitat in which to thrive. You can learn more about how to aid Gulf coast oyster industry employees by enjoying Wellfleet oysters on my home page at oystergeek.com.