Courtesy of Tommy Waller

The Waller brothers designed the Oyster Bed Project as a way to drain excess fluids while oysters cook, and after cooking, the oyster shells are used to create oyster reefs, which help fight coastal erosion.

Two brothers came together to create a way in which to enjoy oysters, a southern favorite, while fighting the environmental issues of coastal erosion through The Oyster Bed project.

Adam Waller and Tommy Waller joined in the family tradition of having a meal of oysters before Tommy Waller was deployed to serve the country in the United States Marine Corps. 

For those who may decide to grill their oysters, it can be a daunting task.  

“We are shucking the oysters and trying to cook them on the grill,” said Tommy Waller. “It’s not easy and it’s messy. It’s a balancing act trying to keep oysters on the grill and stopping all the juices from spilling out. Not every oyster is the same. Some oysters are better for grilling because of the shape.”

Before Tommy Waller was deployed to Africa in 2012, his mother told Tommy, Adam and their other siblings that were helping to shuck oysters, “There are a bunch of smart guys here. Why haven’t y’all come up with anything yet like [Okie Morris] who came up with the ‘“redneck glass?”’

The question by Adam Waller’s mother would give him the motivation to try to figure out how to shuck and grill oysters without losing its flavor.

“Pre-shucked oysters already have the work done by shucking houses,” said Tommy Waller. “Adam started to experiment a little bit with different cooking platforms and had individual cooking wells trying to get pre-shucked oysters to cook right but that would never work. Cooking an oyster renders fluid and if that fluid has nowhere to go, then they get soggy and doesn’t have the right consistency.”

Through the ingenuity of Adam Waller, the Kick-Starter project of the oyster bed began. Adam was able to create a way to make a cooking platter with cooking wells that are just the right size as well as the right dimensions while the excess fluid is able to drain off and create consistency.

Unlike most Kick-Starter projects, these beds are already made, in storage and can be delivered before Christmas. 

However, this was not the only important factor that the Waller brothers took into consideration when launching the project. 

“When you invent a new product, you want to do some market research on who’s going to want to use that product,” said Tommy Waller. “We invented a product for oysters, so we should know a little about oysters. I started to study the oyster and soon learned the benefits of oysters.”

The Waller brothers learned that not only could they create a cooking platform that would benefit the quality of grilling oysters, but they could also become environmentally friendly by slowing down the process of erosion in Louisiana.  

“Oyster reefs are one of the best ways to stop coastal erosions,” said Tommy Waller. “When you are talking about storm surges coming in from hurricanes, oyster reefs are huge at stopping coastal erosion.”

Oyster reefs are one way to stop Louisiana’s erosion from making the map of Louisiana having to be redrawn.

“These oyster fisherman are creating new reefs that they can harvest off of oyster reefs three or four years down the road. To do it, they are having to use crushed concrete and limestone,” said Tommy Waller. “In reality, the best thing for a baby oyster to attach to is an oyster shell and yet those fisherman don’t have enough oyster to use. Our product [oyster bed platter] uses pre-shucked shells which creates all the shucked shells from the shucking house can go back to the estuaries.”  

Also, with creating an environment in which oysters have the highest potential to thrive for oyster fisherman, it will save the other fishermen in the long run.

“This crushed concrete and limestone, they have to pay for. One trip on a boat can put them out $15,000 and we help them out as lot when we can provide them with more oyster shelves,” said Tommy Waller.

The goal of the Waller brothers is hoping those who eat oysters can gain new knowledge on the oyster shucking business. 

“The long-term goal is to educate the consumer,” said Tommy Waller. “[We want to] teach each the value of the oyster for our environment and to synthetize the overall industry. Consumer to restaurant-shucking house to anybody in the industry. I realize that we have to have a healthy ecosystem if I want to eat good food. Our product makes that more obvious, and we want to drive the fact that the healthier the ecosystem is, the healthier our food is.”

For those who may eat in Hammond or anywhere that serves oysters, there is a way that you can help the cause of the oyster bed project.

“Just spread the word about this project, about the product itself and the environmental concept,” said Tommy Waller. “Ask the question when you go out to eat, ‘Where do the shells go after you are done eating them?’ Louisiana doesn’t have a program to recycle shells. A lot of restaurants do it themselves and some have been doing it for decades and know the value of it. We don’t have all the answers but we have one of the answers. We should apply those answers to what we can.”

To find out more about the Kick-Starter program on the Oyster Bed Project or how you can get involved with this project, visit their Facebook page at theoysterbed which can also lead you to their Kick Starter webpage.