Why this NYC Street Food Vanished

New York City: the ultimate foodie city. But before the bagels, the pizza and the hot dog, there was…. the humble oyster.
New York was known as the oyster capital of the world. You could slurp down one of these fresh, briny delicacies from a street cart or feast on them at a fancy restaurant like Delmonico's
They were the lifeblood of the city -a vital part of the city’s economy, culture, and cuisine.
But in a few short years, they vanished and faded into obscurity, soon forgotten by the city that once depended on them.
To unravel the mystery of how such a fundamental part of the city’s history disappeared, we have to journey back to a time before Henry Hudson sailed into New York Harbor in 1609.
Fabien Cousteau:
The Hudson River area was theorized to have been the largest oyster rookery in the world. By some accounts, there were over 9 billion oysters.
Mara Haseltine:
New York City was the oyster capital of the world, which meant that it had over 350 square miles of reefs, which meant that all the water going in and out of New York was filtered by oysters and it was supposed to be amazing.
Mark Kurlansky
It was estimated that half the world's oysters were in New York Harbor.
Emily Driscoll:
Some of New York's most famous landmarks were named for the plentiful beds that surrounded them. Ellis Island and Liberty Island used to be called Little Oyster and Great Oyster Island. Left alone to grow, the oysters looked a lot different than they do today.
Mark Kurlansky
We're used to oysters that are harvested at about two and a half, three years. This oyster was allowed to grow for seven years.
Fabien Cousteau:
There were so many oysteries or oyster restaurants and so much importing and exporting of oyster goods out of here that it created an economy that we haven't seen since.
Kyle Bennett:
New York exists because of the oyster. It was the economic engine that moved the city on. This was the thing that made it so that people could live here and get food easily, but it also made it so that they could ship it around the world and make money from it.
This video was created from the film SHELLSHOCKED: Saving Oysters to Save Ourselves.
DIRECTED, EDITED AND WRITTEN BY:
Emily Driscoll
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:
Stavros Basis
GAFFERS:
Stavros Basis
Thomas Miller
Charles Young
ANIMATION:
Charles Young
MUSIC:
'Down by the Oyster Barge'
Bob Wright and Harbortown
'Oyster Aristocracy'
Bob Wright and Harbortown
'Look at the Water'
Bob Wright and Harbortown
Audio Network
Pump Audio
Shockwave-Sound
ADDITIONAL VIDEO:
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County
State Archives of Florida
Prelinger Archives
and the Internet Archive
Katie Mosher-Smith and
NY/NJ Baykeeper
PHOTOGRAPHS/ARTWORK:
Anne-Marie Cousteau
Fabien Cousteau
Dreamstime
Robert D. Farber University Archives &
Special Collections Department,
Brandeis University
Sherman Foote Denton
HarpWeek
Inna Sokolova,
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Museum of the City of New York
NASA
New York City Department of Health
New York/New Jersey Baykeeper
Collection of the New-York Historical Society
Photography Collection,
Miriam and Ira D Wallach Division of Art
Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library
General Research Division, The New York Public Library,
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Milstein Division of United States History,
Local History & Genealogy
The New York Public Library,
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
NOAA
Plant A Fish
Sandy Ground Historical Society
The Library of Congress
The British Museum
The Harbor School
Texas Archeological Research Library,
The University of Texas, Austin,
image cat. no. 41SP43-C82_600
U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office
U.S. National Parks Service
THANKS TO
Jay Anania
Joan Baker
Nancy Barber
Stavros Basis
Kyle Bennett
Jim Brown
Bill Burrows
David Clayton
Emily Clifton
Meredith Comi
Fabien Cousteau
Amy Cradic
Sylvia D'Alessandro
Marylyn Dintenfass
Gillian Driscoll
Jeanne Driscoll
John Driscoll
Vida Driscoll
Rene Ebersole
Dan Fagin
Murray Fisher
Rudy Gaskins
Thomas Goreau
Rudy Hallez
Mara Haseltine
Tim Hoellein
Independent Studios, Milwaukee, WI
Srineel Jalagani
Kerstin Kalchmayr
Mark Kurlansky
Erich Lazar
Jim Lodge
Katherine Ludeman
Pete Malinowski
Sofie Malinowski
Allison Mass
Susan McPherson
Thomas Miller
Katie Mosher-Smith
Courtney Nichols
NJDEP
NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study
NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Sean O'Donnell
Michael Patricio
Ben Pessin
Larry Ragonese
Gregg Rivara
Trish Sheppard
Robbi Siegel
Aviva Slesin
The Ear Inn
The New School
Yvonne Taylor
Zoe Timms
Allyson Tucker
Rand Weeks
Wild Edibles
Bob Wright
Charles Young
Chester Zarnoch

[@gillybeann]

oysters used to be as ubiquitous as pretzels and hot dogs. Who knew! Love this fun fact about oysters in nyc

[@MrSloika]

Caviar too. The Hudson was loaded with sturgeon.

[@JeanneDriscoll-se2xc]

Hard to imagine the amount of oysters -- and their shells - that were in NYC years ago. Nice
history lesson.

[@FalconsEye58094]

very interesting, looking forward to hearing the next part

[@NeelReddy-tg4zu]

Who knew there was a time in NYC when you didn't have to shell out a lot for good oysters🤯

[@arfriedman4577]

Thanks for the lovely history video.
Sheepshead bay has seafood places like Randazzos.

[@richshields6692]

Freed slaves from Sandy ground staten island were major oysterman in the raritan bay. The community really thrived Until pollution ruined the bay. What a shame.

[@felichia808]

Pollution - it figures. Too bad.

[@bencoheed]

great and informative video

[@emily-driscoll]

Thank you!

[@nicholasrella6904]

If those carts existed today they'd be selling oysters for $30 a piece.

[@BobKnight-mm2ze]

Very nice peek into history. Thanks a lot. Feel like a just watched a local NY area PBS piece.

[@Yuhabahhablast]

Well done! This definitely deserves more views. Makes me want to go to NYC and plant some oysters even though I'm from Western Canada hahaha

[@RichardPonsford-kv2uy]

Great video.

[@acbenepe]

There's an excellent book on this subject called"the Big Oyster" (word play on the big apple) by Mark Kurlansky.

[@emily-driscoll]

Yes! An incredible book. I was so thrilled Mark Kurlanksy agreed to be interviewed for my film SHELLSHOCKED, which is shown in part in this video!

[@ShaheenGhiassy]

Not sure I agree with the interviewee who said “New York exists because of the Oyster”… maybe the Eerie Canal had something to do with it

[@low_key_f_key3237]

I hope Oysters come back bc they are healthy for you

[@SOLDGREEN]

Yeah, until they overfished and polluted the shite out of the ocean

[@vancegilmore245]

Oysters are a fantastic food.

[@rehtorbF03]

dont even get me started on the dutch

[@JohnWilson-wg4gk]

Contemporary New York :
Khlav Kalash
Crab juice
Mt. Dew

[@kateapple1]

UGH THE SMELL!!!! 😂

[@johnsmith1953x]

*Scientists: "The pollution will kill all the oysters in New York in a few decades"*
People Then: "Stop being woke!"
People Now: "What happened to all the oysters?"

[@MbisonBalrog]

You can still get in restaurants.

[@anderspedersen7488]

01:35: No idea oysters that big existed. It wouldn’t take many of that size to fill a grown man.

[@emily-driscoll]

They recently found a giant oyster in NY Harbor- a size that hasn't been seen in a century: www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/nyregion/biggest-oyster-new-york-city-harbor.html

[@xenonmob]

what are the numbers on the delmonaco’s menu at 0:19 ? so confused

[@JohnWilson-wg4gk]

😄 The numbers denote the quantity of a semi-precious object known as "the penny" required to purchase each food item.
If you mind them, your dollars will take care of themselves...

[@niteshades_promise]

mmm room temp seafood sitting out all day. 🍻

[@kateapple1]

Lemme guess.. they disappeared bc we over fished them.. didn’t they 😂 GOD WE SUCK

[@grawakendream8980]

how

[@cjninebot13]

90 % of the city street is now halal food carts now .