Weekend Roadtrip #9: Grab a Plastic Bib and Head to the NC Seafood Festival

Grab your oyster knives and crab crackers! This weekend, Morehead City will be hosting the 22nd Annual North Carolina Seafood Festival. Friday through Sunday, October 3-5, locals and out-of-towners can enjoy all the Crystal Coast has to offer. Events include the Outer Banks Boat Show, cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs, live music, rides, an open air market with arts and crafts, and fireworks. Oh yeah, and there’ll be a ton of seafood. You know you can almost taste that Shrimp Po Boy.

In case you can’t make the festivities, why not throw your own seafood festival? Some of you may just need a pound of shrimp and a little imagination, but for us less mer-like souls, a great resource for everything NC Seafood is Joyce Taylor’s MARINER’S MENU: 30 YEARS OF FRESH SEAFOOD IDEAS. Taylor has been known as the state’s “guru of seafood” for over three decades. Aware of at-home hesitancy to prepare fresh fish dishes, Taylor emphasizes simplistic recipes and delectable seasoning; after one of her many cooking workshops participants often comment: “It’s so easy, I think I can do it.”

The abundance of responsibly caught seafood in our state has much to do with the research and monitoring of the NCSU Seafood Laboratory and the NC Sea Grant. These two organizations work in conjunction “to develop an understanding of the state’s coastal environment and promote the sustainable use of marine resources.”

So, head down to Morehead City this weekend or try your hand at home, but make sure it’s fresh and local.

–Rachel