In this episode, we hop into our time traveling oysters and visit 1830s Boston, Shakespeare’s England, Ancient Rome and the coast of North America thousands of years ago!
The article that kicks off this episode is an op-ed essay from the New York Times, “Why Kids Became Picky Eaters” by Helen Zoe Veit
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/opinion/junk-food-picky-eaters.html?searchResultPosition=1
And here’s the source I tracked down for kids eating oysters in the 1830s:
A New England Boyhood (Edward Everett Hale, 1900) — HathiTrust
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000021390012&seq=112&q1=oysters
I also found this cool story about kids (safely) working on a modern oyster farm:
“Kids Become Oyster Farmers” — East Hampton Star
https://www.easthamptonstar.com/education/2022113/kids-become-oyster-farmers
I didn’t mention this one in the podcast, but here’s a recipe for an ancient Roman oyster dish:
Ancient Roman Oysters and Shellfish with Cumin Sauce — Historical Italian Cooking
https://historicalitaliancooking.home.blog/english/recipes/ancient-roman-oysters-and-shellfish-with-cumin-sauce/
Here’s a good article about immigrants and children working in oyster canneries:
“A Forgotten People: Bohemian Oyster Shuckers on the NC Coast”
https://ncoystertrail.org/a-forgotten-people-bohemian-oyster-shuckers-on-nc-coast
Vocab words!
Kelp Highway Hypothesis
“The Kelp Highway Hypothesis” — Academia.edu
https://www.academia.edu/17182299/The_Kelp_Highway_Hypothesis_Marine_Ecology_the_Coastal_Migration_Theory_and_the_Peopling_of_the_Americas
Beringia
Links!
Indigenous Seaweed Knowledge and Harvest Practices
“Native Voices: Traditional Uses for Seaweed” — The Cordova Times
https://thecordovatimescom/2023/12/13/native-voices-traditional-uses-for-seaweed/
Children, Oysters, and Early American Foodways
A New England Boyhood (PDF) — Internet Archive
https://dn790000.ca.archive.org/0/items/newenglandboyhoo0000hale/newenglandboyhoo0000hale.pdf
Food Timeline — American Food History Resource
https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq5.html
Historical Economics Context
US Inflation Calculator (Value of $1 in 1830)
https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1830?amount=1
Constant Dollars — Defense Acquisition University Glossary
https://www.dau.edu/glossary/constant-dollars
Children Working at Maggioni Canning Company in 1912
Historic Oyster Cannery Child Labor Photo Story — Beaufort, North Carolina
https://www.eatstayplaybeaufort.com/youve-probably-seen-this-photo-but-do-you-know-the-story-behind-it/
Maggioni Canning Company — Library of Congress Collection
https://www.loc.gov/search/?in=&q=Maggioni+Canning+Co&new=true
Maggioni Cannery Photograph — Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/2018677425/
Maggioni Cannery Photograph — Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/2018677430/
Oyster Ecology and Sustainability
“Oysters Capture Carbon and Support Sustainable Food Systems” — Phys.org
https://phys.org/news/2025-09-oysters-carbon-ocean-sustainable-food.html
Oysters in Culture and Social History
“Oysters: The Tudor Version of Cinema Popcorn” — Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/oysters-the-tudor-version-of-cinema-popcorn-idUSTRE60S4JO/
“From Peasant Fodder to Posh Fare” — The Conversation
https://theconversation.com/from-peasant-fodder-to-posh-fare-how-snails-and-oysters-became-luxury-foods-254299
Ancient Roman Oyster Culture
“Oyster Culture of the Ancient Romans” — Cambridge University Press
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-marine-biological-association-of-the-united-kingdom/article/abs/oyster-culture-of-the-ancient-romans/EDB5C165BB46EDD3FA22C95C855325EB
Indigenous Oyster Harvest and Deep-Time Fisheries
“Indigenous Oyster Harvest Through Time” — Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29818-z
Neanderthals and Early Human Seafood Diets
“Neanderthals Had ‘Surfer’s Ear’” — Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/neanderthals-had-lots-surfers-ear-suggesting-they-were-seafood-180972917/
“Neanderthals Ate Crabs and Seafood” — Popular Science
https://www.popsci.com/science/neanderthals-seafood-crabs/
“Neanderthals Were Fishing the Ocean” — New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/science/neanderthals-fishing-ocean.html
Seaweed and Early Human Diets
“Early Europeans Ate Seaweed and Aquatic Plants” — Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-europeans-ate-seaweed-and-aquatic-plants-180983102/
“First Americans Thrived on Seaweed” — New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13861-first-americans-thrived-on-seaweed/
“Eating Seaweed in the Americas” — JSTOR Daily
https://daily.jstor.org/eating-seaweed-in-the-americas/
The Kelp Highway Hypothesis
Coastal Migration and Kelp Highway Research — USGS
https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70029934
“Ecology of the Kelp Highway” — Gill et al. (PDF)
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristina-Gill-2/publication/273509712_Ecology_of_the_Kelp_Highway_Did_Marine_Resources_Facilitate_Human_Dispersal_From_Northeast_Asia_to_the_Americas/links/55074dfa0cf26ff55f7cdadf/Ecology-of-the-Kelp-Highway-Did-Marine-Resources-Facilitate-Human-Dispersal-From-Northeast-Asia-to-the-Americas.pdf
