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 Veithttps://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) — HathiTrusthttps://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 Starhttps://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 Cookinghttps://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.eduhttps://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 Timeshttps://thecordovatimescom/2023/12/13/native-voices-traditional-uses-for-seaweed/

Children, Oysters, and Early American Foodways

A New England Boyhood (PDF) — Internet Archivehttps://dn790000.ca.archive.org/0/items/newenglandboyhoo0000hale/newenglandboyhoo0000hale.pdf

Food Timeline — American Food History Resourcehttps://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 Glossaryhttps://www.dau.edu/glossary/constant-dollars

Children Working at Maggioni Canning Company in 1912

Historic Oyster Cannery Child Labor Photo Story — Beaufort, North Carolinahttps://www.eatstayplaybeaufort.com/youve-probably-seen-this-photo-but-do-you-know-the-story-behind-it/

Maggioni Canning Company — Library of Congress Collectionhttps://www.loc.gov/search/?in=&q=Maggioni+Canning+Co&new=true

Maggioni Cannery Photograph — Library of Congresshttps://www.loc.gov/item/2018677425/

Maggioni Cannery Photograph — Library of Congresshttps://www.loc.gov/item/2018677430/

Oyster Ecology and Sustainability

“Oysters Capture Carbon and Support Sustainable Food Systems” — Phys.orghttps://phys.org/news/2025-09-oysters-carbon-ocean-sustainable-food.html

Oysters in Culture and Social History

“Oysters: The Tudor Version of Cinema Popcorn” — Reutershttps://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/oysters-the-tudor-version-of-cinema-popcorn-idUSTRE60S4JO/

“From Peasant Fodder to Posh Fare” — The Conversationhttps://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 Presshttps://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 Communicationshttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29818-z

Neanderthals and Early Human Seafood Diets

“Neanderthals Had ‘Surfer’s Ear’” — Smithsonian Magazinehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/neanderthals-had-lots-surfers-ear-suggesting-they-were-seafood-180972917/

“Neanderthals Ate Crabs and Seafood” — Popular Sciencehttps://www.popsci.com/science/neanderthals-seafood-crabs/

“Neanderthals Were Fishing the Ocean” — New York Timeshttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/science/neanderthals-fishing-ocean.html

Seaweed and Early Human Diets

“Early Europeans Ate Seaweed and Aquatic Plants” — Smithsonian Magazinehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-europeans-ate-seaweed-and-aquatic-plants-180983102/

“First Americans Thrived on Seaweed” — New Scientisthttps://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13861-first-americans-thrived-on-seaweed/

“Eating Seaweed in the Americas” — JSTOR Dailyhttps://daily.jstor.org/eating-seaweed-in-the-americas/

The Kelp Highway Hypothesis

Coastal Migration and Kelp Highway Research — USGShttps://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

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