Oysters were found on man’s menu some 164,000 years ago. This important source of protein was likely consumed raw.. In China, oysters were not eaten raw but rather boiled and then dried. Dried oysters were and still are considered a delicacy often eaten during festivities such as Chinese New Year.
Farming techniques and methods found in South China date back to the Song Dynasty (960–1279). At this time, locals began to plant shafts into the ocean to raise oysters, marking the first instance of artificially raised oysters in the world.
Po-On, China, had once had a flourishing oyster growing community famed for producing the finest oysters in the Asian region.
It is here where the Mok family passed on the trade from one generation to the next. Oyster shells were used as cultch providing a substrate in the waters of Deep Bay for oyster larvae to attach. Only men were allowed on the farms, as they would strip down to plant the cultch on the seabed. The women would stay on shore and took care of the shucking, cooking and drying of the oysters. Unfortunately, this tradition could not be passed on when in 1947 the communists came to power, seizing land and sea. Together with many other farmers, Mok’s family lost possession of their generations’ old oyster field. Mok passed on at a young age, leaving his wife and 2 sons behind. But the story was not meant to end here.
Fast forward 7 decades, 2600 kilometers away from Po-On, Mok’s granddaughter has set out her journey to follow her ancestral roots and resurrect this industry …. in Singapore.
2015 marks the year that she took over a defunct coastal farm in Singapore off the shores of Pulau Ubin. Times have changed and a new era has emerged that calls for new farming methods to satisfy the rising demand for high quality fresh live oysters served on the half shell.
A totally changed industry, a completely different climate, zero knowledge transfer,... A daunting task.