George Hastings, Champion Shucker, Recalls the Days When Oysters Were King

George Hastings watches a fellow shucker demonstrate the Chesapeake-stabber method, prying an oyster open from the front. "There are different styles for different areas, depending on where you're from or how you're taught," Hastings says. On the Gulf Coast, shuckers tend to break the hinge to open the shells, but Hastings isn't picky. "Any way you open an oyster is OK," he says.

for Baltimore City Paper; repurposed on BaltimoreSun.com