By BLK ELK Media, Daniel Mitchell, Logan Dial, Neiagha Thomas, Erin Byers Murray, and Maggie Ward

In the Field

ShellBound: An Anthology of Southern Oyster Culture | Episode 3: Louisiana

By: Maggie Ward

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Part three of our three-part docuseries celebrating the Southern oyster

Our oyster story concludes in Louisiana. ShellBound is a docuseries that explores the deep cultural, environmental, and human stories behind Southern oysters. Across its episodes, the series traces oysters from reef to raw bar, revealing how this humble protein connects history, family, cuisine, and coastal resilience. The third and final episode brings the journey to a close in Louisiana, where oysters are not just food, but identity—woven into daily life, labor, and legacy.

This final chapter of our story centers on Louisiana oyster culture as a living tradition shaped by relationships: between farmers and water, chefs and growers, families and generations past. We follow oyster farmer Boris Guerrero of Grand Isle Sea Farms, whose multigenerational farming roots stretch from Ecuador to coastal Louisiana. For Guerrero and his family, oyster farming is both inherited instinct and learned craft, built through trial and error, long days on the water, and partnerships with hatcheries like the Michael C. Voisin Oyster Hatchery facility that supplies seed oysters for sustainable growth. It also confronts the challenges farmers face, from the slow patience required to raise market-size oysters to the devastation of Hurricane Ida, which wiped out years of work and forced growers like the Guerreros to rebuild from scratch. Resilience emerges as a central theme, with oysters serving as a metaphor for the people who cultivate them along Louisiana’s vulnerable coast.

Shifting from farm to city, the episode explores New Orleans’ oyster bars as cultural gathering spaces where shuckers, chefs, locals, and visitors connect over shared plates. At Fives Raw Bar, Chef Sarah Master pays homage to the oyster’s story of grit and determination on every plate she creates. Conversations about flavor, craft, and community underscore how oysters bring people together across backgrounds. The series closes on a note of gratitude and purpose, portraying oyster farming not just as a job, but as a calling—one rooted in freedom, hard work, and a profound sense of place.

Just as oysters can’t live without the support of one another, this collaboration would not be possible without the support of our partners. Our deepest thanks go to Oyster South, a nonprofit that connects communities, provides resources for Southern oyster farmers, and promotes healthy waters, for providing a storytelling grant which allowed us to enlist the team behind BLK ELK, a cutting-edge Arkansas production outfit to help shape this compelling look into the world of Southern oysters. To support the work of Oyster South, learn more here.

For the full oyster story, check out Episode 1 on Virginia’s coastline conservation here and Episode 2 capturing the collaboration going on between chef and farmer in North Carolina here.

Explore Our Oyster Feature

Southern Oysters 101

We’re sharing all that we know and love about Southern oysters— from why they matter to some of the many people who are harvesting or farming them; from how to shuck and taste them to how best to pair them with a drink. Consider this your Southern Oysters 101 and then some.