For the first time Key West will be hosting a festival dedicated to oysters.
The inaugural Key West Oyster Fest, taking place on Saturday, is organized by the same people behind the Miami Oyster Fest, which launched earlier this year.
“ It's a celebration of local coastal cuisine,” Fabio Galarce of Everglades Oysters said. “We're celebrating local chefs, local oyster farms, the best that the Keys has to offer. Everything from Michelin Star chefs all the way to institutional landmark restaurants in Key West. It's all in the name of promoting Florida producers and saving the Gulf oyster.”
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Galarce is a co-founder of Everglades Oysters, an oyster farm based in Miami. They, along with the Gulf Oyster Movement and Half Shell Raw Bar are backing the event. A big part of the festival, Galarce said, is to raise awareness about the Gulf oyster.
Approximately 85% of oyster reefs have been lost across the globe. In Florida, Apalachicola was the hub of oyster harvesting until the federal government declared a fishery disaster in the bay in 2012. Oil spills, hurricanes and other water supply issues contributed to the disaster. Since then, oyster farms like Everglades Oysters have popped up to fill in where harvesting has become unsustainable.
All the shells from the oyster festival will be recycled back into the Gulf Coast so that baby oysters can latch onto them and rebuild the Gulf Coast oyster population.
“ If there aren't oyster shells in the water that the babies can stick to, then the reefs will never form and those oyster bars or oyster reefs are the foundation of the entire ecosystem,” Galarce said. “'Cause then the little fish and crabs and corals and grasses, everything grows on top of the oyster beds.”
Galarce and Everglades Oysters co-founder Josh Wilkie said they want attendees to learn the benefits of supporting local oyster farms and better waste and recycling practices. Through the nonprofit Gulf Oyster Movement, Galarce and Wilkie collect shells from participating restaurants and take them back out to the water to rebuild oyster reefs.
“We're producing them from a hatchery to then produce the shell and the oysters to serve and then have that shell for use in the environment,” Wilkie said. “It's almost like making oysters just to get the shell material, and eating the protein is just a benefit.”
IF YOU GO
What: Key West Oyster Fest: A Benefit for the Gulf Oyster
When: Saturday, November 14, 5p.m. -10p.m.
Where: Half Shell Raw Bar, Key West, FL
