Reddit mentions of The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell

If anyone is interested in reading a history of New York City through its maritime oyster trade, I'd strongly recommend Kurlansky's The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. Putting the pun aside, it really is a fascinating portrait of oyster fishing, gustatory proclivities, and new yorker history.

This. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345476395/ Fantastic book on the subject. Oyster bars in NYC were political hangouts, business meeting places, sometime brothels. All while waiting for your ferry which you sometimes missed because you were having too much fun.

If you find this cool you should read this book...
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Oyster-History-Half-Shell/dp/0345476395

There are many citations on line and in book form ("The Big Oyster") showing how often the Oyster came up as incredibly common place in early American diets and primarily a working class food.

Not scientific journals, and not exactly the same, but I really liked these two books about historic perspectives on our fisheries. Same author.

https://www.amazon.com/Cod-Biography-Fish-Changed-World/dp/0140275010

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Oyster-History-Half-Shell/dp/0345476395

Tastes of Paradise by Wolfgang Schivelbusch is an absolutely amazing book. The author explains that spices were thought to come from an Earthly Paradise mythically tied to the Garden of Eden and the quest to find it was central to Western history. Kurlansky's The Big Oyster, a history of New York City told through its relationship with oysters is wonderful. But I'm an oyster geek.

Bingo!

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Big-Oyster-History-Shell/dp/0345476395

You might find this book interesting. Basically oysters are a keystone 'poverty food' for coastal cities. Very important to the history of New York for example. In DF, a coastal fort would very likely become an important food exporter to the rest of the Dwarven nation...

Also you can burn the shells to get lime! Shell armor (ala boar tusk helmet of the Mycenaean I guess) and swords (pacific islander/aztec style - ouch! http://www.tikimaster.com/category/05.21/ The shells can be crushed and used as a concrete additive - and although I'm not certain, I believe they could also be used as flux for steel making. In the game we'd run the shells through the millstone (using Masterwork as that's what I play) and we'd basically end up with a renamed bonemeal reaction. With a fishing industry running full bore, running out of flux should be a thing of the past! :D

Food is a universal motivator. What if you had students research historical cooking? And after a week or two, you have each student bring in a recipe they've prepared from historical period/culture of their choice? And also give a presentation or write a short paper about how the food came about, or how it influence history and culture.

I've recently been trying recipes from this blog about recreating ancient Roman cuisine. Not exactly an academic source, but does cite the passages from Roman writings that inspire his exploits.

The book Salt: A World History would also be a great source, and is very easy-to-read and IMHO quite interesting. Many parts of it would make good excerpts for reading in class and introducing ideas. The same author has similar books on Cod and Oysters.

I'm no expert, I'm just stealing this idea because it's an assignment that I was given in High School, and was one of the most memorable and fun.