The Pied Piper of Oysterdom

Written by Richard Dodd

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While Mark Kurlansky (The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell) and Rowan Jacobsen (The Geography of Oysters) blazed briny trails of New York oyster history and their fascinating edible origins, a new oyster visionary has emerged. Meet Kevin Joseph …

I first met Kevin at a party hosted by The Billion Oyster Project, or was it during New York Oyster Week, or Jingle Shells? Yes, it was attending New York Oyster Week in 2011. Little did I know then, that I had crossed paths with someone I call The Pied Piper of Oysterdom.

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I’m a self-described oyster prophet who is obsessed with the stories of individuals seeking fame and fortune by making an oyster profit. I know a little about this subject matter that commingles the fields of aquaculture, food/hospitality, and environmental restoration. I received certification as a shellfish gardener and coastal stewardship practitioner from Rutgers University. But this story is not about me … I am akin to the Geoffrey Chaucer character (Actor Paul Bettany) in A Knights Tale who chronicled the exploits of William Thatcher (Actor Heath Ledger) using the avatar "Sir?Ulrich von Liechtenstein from Gelderland.” Great movie!

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This tale is a true story about oyster visioneering in the real world, not Hollywood fiction.

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Kevin Joseph’s love affair with oysters is a beautiful obsession. He is captivated by oyster lore, oyster cuisine, and their role as environmental superheroes. He is boldly creating a vertically integrated oyster empire.

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This entrepreneurial Gen-Xer is shaping the future of the physical and mythical world of Oysterdom. This term first appeared in Harper’s Magazine in the Mid-19th Century and covers the world of oysters and those concerned with their production, preparation, and consumption.

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He is neither short nor tall, yet he carries the vision of a giant. His face is partially covered with a nicely trimmed beard. His complexion is weathered by the sun’s dangerous caress. His palms carry the visible and invisible scars of opening thousands of oysters. Like a gunslinger proudly etching?notches on a belt, his are displayed on his hands.

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As the founder of Empire Oyster, he is a visionary, mariculture entrepreneur, chef, consultant, and the world’s first Master Mermmelier. What is a Mermmelier you may be wondering??We’ll get to that later.

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Mr. Joseph is reimagining the oyster culinary experience for restaurant professionals and consumers of these magical shellfish. Oysters are a celebration of sustainable seafood sourcing, preparation, and presentation.

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While they look like rocks, oysters in Mr. Joseph’s playbook will rock your world. They may also be the world’s perfect food. They are a delicious high protein, low calorie, mineral-rich, guilty pleasure … without the guilt.

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Celebrating fine oyster cuisine with Mr. Joseph as your guide is a unique culinary adventure. It is like experiencing Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, rising from an oyster shell and imparting a kiss from the sea. Equal parts food and passion, oysters create a sensory and sensual relationship.?

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In regulated oyster farm tracks, harvested oysters take on the flavor profile of their estuarial location. Analogous to terroir (soil) for wine, oysters are impacted by their merroir (sea). The salinity, mineral content, algae, and other characteristics of the water create both mystery and magic in imparting the oyster’s unique flavor. Depending on location, an oyster can taste a bit salty, sometimes creamy, and they often deliver a dreamlike celebration of nature seducing your palette.

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Oysters are best known for playing the role of gastronomic foreplay as a dining appetizer. With Mr. Joseph’s influence, they are becoming the main course in delivering complete and satisfying culinary seduction.?

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Savoring oysters au natural in their own juice or liquor is a purist’s delight when eating these frutti de mar (fruit of the sea). Others savor oysters with lemon slices, horseradish, mignonette sauce, hot sauce, and other pairings.

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Mr. Joseph has expanded on this experience with imaginative creations featuring smoked oysters, liquor-infused pearls adorning oysters, and other forms of culinary sorcery.

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His accomplishments in Oysterdom are multifaceted, bordering on legendary. He launched New York Oyster Week in 2011. He’s created spectacular oyster dining experiences in New York, Charleston, and Miami area restaurants. His oyster raw labs and Omakase Style Oyster Service - where the chef’s imagination is the key ingredient in preparing your meal – ?highlight his Pied Piper culinary chops.

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Perhaps his signature contribution to Oysterdom is coining the word Mermmelier, creating a training program, and certifying Mermmeliers across the globe. Analogous to a sommelier in the wine trade, a Mermmelier is a trained oyster professional who instructs and guides clients on their oyster culinary journey. This classification didn’t exist until 2013 when it was invented by Mr. Joseph.?

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Alan Kay, a technology visionary at the legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), was quoted as saying, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Mr. Joseph has emerged as an Oyster Pied Piper in inventing, curating, and producing a magical oyster celebration.

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Arguably no one described the oyster experience better than Ernest Hemingway in The Moveable Feast:

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As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.

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Now Mr. Joseph is expanding on Hemingway’s love of oysters. He has reimagined their culinary possibilities. In the process, he is creating oyster magic in the food and hospitality industry as The Pied Piper of Oysterdom.

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Byline

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Richard Dodd

Published author, freelance writer, environmentalist, consultant, coastal realty specialist

[email protected]

[email protected]

Mobile (646) 245-8315