22 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
N W
word
OYSTERS
By LYNETTE RAE
McADAMS
By RYAN HUME
FOR COAST WEEKEND
LYNETTE RAE McADAMS PHOTO
FOR COAST WEEKEND
N
estled in the shallow
waters of every sea
across the globe,
bathed in the brine of the
revolving tides, oysters have
been filtering and feasting
from Earth’s oceans for at
least 250 million years.
Belonging to a unique
family of bivalves — Ost-
reidae — this curious group
of mollusks, comprising
about 16 different spe-
cies, all employ fine hairs,
called cilia, to draw water
across their gills, trapping
sediment, plankton and
particles of algae in a kind
of aqueous, round-the-
clock buffet that benefits
the entire ecosystem.
Individually, one oyster
can cleanse 30 to 50
gallons of water per day,
but clustered together,
in their natural reefs and
“beds,” the oysters’ abilities
increase exponentially, with
one acre of habitat capable
of filtering up to 24 million
gallons in the same amount
of time.
As much as they con-
tribute to the health of our
oceans and brackish water-
ways, oysters are far better
Oyster shells
known for their culinary
assets, about which there is
little ambivalence. Consid-
ered definitively succulent
or, to the contrary, simply
slimy, people seem to love
them or loathe them in
equal measure. For those
who find them favorable,
there is no end to the choic-
es of preparation — from
different cooking methods
to varieties of seasonings
— but real purists under-
stand: The best way to eat
an oyster is raw and alive,
with a splash of fine vine-
gar and a chaser of chilled
champagne.
Much like wine and
coffee, oysters develop a
specific flavor profile based
on the adjacent lands and
waters in which they’re
grown, and all five of
the edible oyster species
cultivated in the U.S. taste
uniquely different.
Locally, the gleaming
waters of Washington’s
Willapa Bay, still the
most productive oystering
estuary on the continent,
yields mostly Pacific
oysters, which replaced the
native Olympia oyster after
decades of exploitation
during the last half of the
19th century. Lightly salty,
with a delicate finish of
clean cucumber, they are
considered among the best
the world has to offer.
Loaded with calcium,
iron and protein, oysters
offer many health bene-
fits, but, sadly, none that
measure up to lore. Though
lovers through the ages
have touted the bivalve as a
potent aphrodisiac, with no
less a personality than Ca-
sanova himself purportedly
indulging in 50 or more
each morning at breakfast,
most scientific testing
doesn’t support the hype.
That said, recent studies
have shown that zinc, found
in high concentrations
throughout the oyster’s
flesh, is one of the first min-
erals utilized by the human
body in the production of
testosterone, so there is a
chance — though a slim
one, for sure — that this
famous delicacy, so perfect
an accompaniment to the
holiday bubbly, might also
add a little vigor to your
midnight New Year’s kiss. CW
NOW OPEN FOR LUNCH
11am-4pm
Tuesday-Saturday
carruthers
1198 Commercial Street
Astoria, Oregon 97103
503.975.5305
nerd
Happy Hour
Tuesday-Friday
4pm-6pm and
8:30-Close
240 11TH STREET
ASTORIA, OR 97103
GHADAR
[Gɒ•DƐƏR]
(In Punjabi: ਗ਼ਦਰ ਪਾਰਟੀ)
Proper noun
Ghadar Party: An early
twentieth-century move-
ment of Punjabi East Asian
immigrants, who — facing
plague, famine and British
imperialism — shot out by
the millions from the Raj
(what the Indian subcontinent
was referred to under British
rule) to different parts of
the world to find work and
decent living conditions.
In North America, these
immigrants first established
themselves on the East Coast
of the U.S. as merchants,
public servants, military
and laborers before moving
west. Many Punjabi, whether
Hindu, Muslim or Sikh,
established themselves along
the Columbia River, from
The Dalles to Astoria.
In May 1913, many Pun-
jabi from as far away as Brit-
ish Columbia and California
assembled at the Finnish So-
cialist Hall in Astoria to hear
a speaker, Har Dyal, a Stan-
ford professor. Dyal’s speech
would come to be known as
the founding moment of the
Ghadar Party, a revolutionary
DON ANDERSON PHOTO
In 2013, Pishora Singh Dillon (center) and then-Mayor Willis
Van Dusen, along with about a hundred onlookers, celebrate
the unveiling of the Ghadar Centennial Plaque at Maritime
Memorial Park in Astoria. The plaque was discovered missing
earlier this year, and local politicians and business owners have
donated money to replace the historical marker.
nationalist movement aiming
to take back control of India
from British colonialists at
any cost.
While the original Ghadar
Mutiny of 1915 was unsuc-
cessful, leading to many
arrests and executions under
British rule, the larger effort
of the Ghadar Party is seen as
a precursor to the later non-
violent Indian independence
movement led by Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi.
Origin
Sometimes spelled as
gadar or ghadr, ghadar is an
Urdu word by way of Arabic,
meaning “revolt” or “rebel-
lion.” One of the founders
of the party, Kartar Singh
Sarabha, wrote in the first
issue of the weekly paper
The Ghadar, which would
become the publication the
party rallied around: “Today
there begins ‘Ghadar’ in for-
eign lands, but in our coun-
try’s tongue, a war against
the British Raj. What is our
name? Ghadar. What is our
work? Ghadar. Where will be
the Revolution? In India. The
time will soon come when
rifles and blood will take the
place of pens and ink.”
“About a year ago a good
many of the Hindu employ-
ees at Astoria and vicinity
left here for California
where it was said they were
endeavoring to go back to
India. It seems they were un-
able to get transportation as
they were all bent on Anar-
chy against the British Gov-
ernment in India and were
afraid to trust themselves on
British vessels. Within the
last few days quite a number
of them have returned to As-
toria including their leader
Munshi Ram whom I saw
yesterday for the first time
for a long time.”
— E. E. Cherry, “British
Foreign Office Record,” As-
toria, Oregon, Dec. 11, 1915
“The weighty bronze
metal sign attached to a
metal pole at Maritime
Memorial Park, which
recognizes the Ghadar Party,
went missing in October and
has yet to be found. State
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
poose, former Astoria Mayor
Willis Van Dusen, Lovekesh
Kumar — owner of Super
Mart in Warrenton — and
Bahadur Singh — Kumar’s
brother — have donated
$1,670 to cover the cost of
its replacement.”
—“Donors pitch in to re-
place missing Ghadar Party
sign at Maritime Memorial
Park,” The Daily Astorian,
Dec. 13, 2017 CW