In Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Anthony Bourdain claims that a raw oyster sparked his love for food. He describes sitting on a boat with his family as a young boy and, unlike the rest of them, braving a raw oyster freshly caught by their host.

In 2007, Bourdain returns to oysters, though this time steamed rather than raw. In the South Carolina episode of No Reservations, he enjoys a classic Charleston oyster roast. However, he makes one major faux pas when he drinks champagne during the feast—something anyone from the Lowcountry would frown upon. One of two things is drunk at a Lowcountry oyster roast: beer or a Bloody Mary. Beer is a staple of most outdoor activities here—and yes, these stinky and muddy events are held outside. A Bloody Mary’s tomato base complements the oysters’ salty and briny taste. This might seem silly, but these are just two of the unsaid customs of an oyster roast here.

Oysters, for those unfamiliar, are a type of mollusk. They live worldwide in different varieties, and many cultures enjoy them in different ways. From raw to steamed to fried, with or without condiments, people love oysters.

However, in this piece, I do not discuss the international impact of oysters as a whole, but instead, I cover the oyster roast. Being raised in the Lowcountry—the coastal area of South Carolina—oyster roasts hold a strong presence, especially in the cooler months. (If the month ends in “R,” then it’s perfect oyster season.) Different cultures eat oysters differently, and I’d like to share how we eat them here. But first, I’d like to discuss some history on perhaps the first references of oyster-centered feasts.

The ancient history

Oysters held a reputation in Ancient Greece and Rome. In the 16th book of the Iliad, for example, Patroclus compares how a man he has slain fell like a man diving for oysters in preparation for a feast. Eating oysters—even in large quantities—is not a new practice. Besides this passing mention of an oyster feast, we can also find oysters in the writings of Matron of Pitane, a Greek poet from the 4th century BCE. Matron wrote about food, though as parodies of Homer’s epics.

Additionally, Plato and Aristotle discuss oysters. Found in works such as History of Animals and On the Parts of Animals, Aristotle covers the more analytic, rather than culinary, nature of oysters. However, his writings, along with Plato’s meager mention of them, still point toward the presence of oysters in Greek culture.

Historian R.T. Günther studied oyster culture in Ancient Rome, finding proof of feasts in scattered literary sources and on vases decorated with depictions of such feasts. As Matron and Aristotle wrote of oysters in Greece centuries before, Pliny the Elder and Strabo also wrote of them during Roman rule. Günther even claims that the Romans had developed a method for farming oysters, similar to today’s methods.

A modern tradition

So, how do the Greco-Roman oyster practices connect to the Lowcountry roasts of today? Well, not directly. I show how the Greeks and Romans discussed oysters and oyster feasts because it highlights the presence of such practices in a culture very different and very distant from my own.

Today’s oyster roasts did not come straight from the Greeks and Romans. Actually, the modern idea of oyster roasts in the United States—like many things—came from Native Americans and their interactions with early European settlers.

And now, oyster roasts are a key aspect of Lowcountry culture. However, oyster roasts as a public practice in the United States first appeared in the Chesapeake region and Louisiana. Charleston oyster roasts seem to have started in 1897, with the first public one a year later. The cost of admission was $0.25.

While I do not live in Charleston now, I do live in the Lowcountry. This past weekend, I went to two local oyster roasts, both supporting local charities, and enjoyed some fresh steamed oysters with friends, family, and strangers. This tradition is more than just eating—it’s sharing. It’s sharing words and laughs and space. It’s sharing an experience. And I like to believe that the Greeks and Romans must have thought about their oyster feasts in much the same way.

So, how is it done?

You walk up to a wooden fold-out table. You notice something strange: there’s a hole cut out of the center. You look down it. A large bucket sits under the hole, and in it rest the shells of oysters steamed, opened, and eaten.

With you, you’ve carried along your own bucket of oysters, steaming and warm. You watched as the cook scooped the rocklike shells from the large, specialized cooking vessel that must be pulled by a truck. They smell of the ocean. In your dominant hand, you have a shucker—a dull knife constructed for this exact occasion. In the other hand, you hold a small towel or wear a thick work glove—or, if you’re brave enough, have nothing at all.

On the table sit paper towels and cocktail sauce. If you’re lucky, you might get hot sauce and some lemon slices. Salted crackers might appear, too. The steaming of the oysters, when done properly and fully, cracks the shells apart. This allows for the shucker to slide right between. With the shucker in, you then twist until the shells pop further apart and warm saltwater spills down your arm. You can pull one shell off the other. Now, you behold the beauty of what you are about to eat.

The small, grayish-white mollusk lies in its half shell, ready for you. With the shucker, you loosen it from the shell and eat it as you like. Some eat it with nothing added, slurping it from the shell and starting to open the next as they chew. Others remove it completely and place it on a salted cracker, adding—or not adding—condiments. I, like many others, enjoy it with either cocktail sauce or lemon, putting either on the oyster as it still sits in the half shell and then slurping it down.And there you have it. That’s how you enjoy an oyster roast.

All the while, you stand around the table with friends and family and enjoy each oyster in your unique way. Everyone throws their shells through the table’s hole, and once you’ve finished your bucket, you wipe your hands and enjoy their seawater scent for the rest of the day, relishing the great meal and experience you had earlier.

But, what about the shells?

The roast is over. Everyone is leaving. The tables are a mess, but you can clean those easily. It’s what’s under the tables that intimidates you—the shells. Shells are heavy. They are essentially rocks, and each of these buckets brim with them. You can’t just throw them in the dumpster, and you can’t just throw them in the sea. Luckily, organizations like the South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement (SCORE) program exist.

Harvesting oysters—much like any harvesting, fishing, or hunting—has an impact on the environment. And unless restrictions or rehabilitations exist, it causes nothing but damage. SCORE and similar programs, however, encourage recycling oyster shells. Near my home, there’s even a public oyster shell recycling area where multiple mounds of shells sit and wait.

SCORE works with many South Carolina restaurants recycling shells, especially in the Charleston area. The restaurants put the shells in separate bins, and SCORE comes to collect them. Members of the program then plant the shells back into estuaries—but only after the shells have been quarantined for at least six months. This separation helps reduce the spread of any diseases that the shells may have interacted with during their time in restaurants.

The shells return to their estuaries, strengthening reefs, creating habitats, and filtering the water. It’s a cycle that many people of the Lowcountry respect because we not only admire our coastline—we also cherish any excuse to gather and share experiences with those we love. And what better way to do that than to celebrate and protect our beautiful oyster roast tradition?

Notes

Bourdain, Anthony. 2000. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Gunther, R.T. 1897. “The Oyster Culture of the Ancient Romans.” Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 4 (4): 360–65.
Nigel. 2017. “Oysters in Ancient Greece.” The Oyster’s My World (blog). April 22, 2017.
“On the Road with AC: An Oyster Recycling Ride-Along – South Carolina Wild”. January 27, 2020. “Oyster Roast History: Shucking Through Time.” 2024. October 28, 2024. “South Carolina.” 2007. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. “The Lowcountry Oyster Roast’s Northeastern Origins”. Charleston Magazine. 2019. Charleston SC. December16, 2019.