The History of Shucksgiving
Hannah’s love for tactile shellfish experiences started in Maryland crab shacks as a kid. What fun to crack open the shell, butter and Old Bay coating your hands. As an adult, Hannah experimented with large dinners for friends, including “Taco Tuesdays” in college and pierogi parties in grad school.
Jackson did not know how to open a crab until his mid 20s and learned to love oysters only later in life, but has always had a penchant for hosting parties (DJ much?).
2017: Hannah and Jackson move to Boston for grad school. Proximity to ocean meant oysters everywhere. Each one was different. Every restaurant had them. Tasty, briny, vegetal, mineral-y. Jackson asserts that he met Hannah in the basement of Tasty Burger in Harvard Square; Hannah thinks the first time they talked was after he sang karaoke at a Houston strip mall. Either way, Jackson attended Hannah’s infamous pierogi party and even poorly made mashed potatoes for a Thanksgiving dinner in Hannah’s apartment.
2019: Jackson and Hannah head to South Louisiana for their graduate thesis. They drove all over New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Cajun Country, conducting interviews and eating as much Louisiana cuisine as possible. Jackson and Hannah’s friendship blossomed. They went to Shucks!, an oyster house in Abbeville and shared six Gulf oysters on the half shell. At the end of their meal, a fellow Shucks! patron approached their table and asked, “How long have y’all been married for?” Hannah and Jackson quickly replied, “Oh no, we’re just friends.” Well, give that guy $5000, because here we are.
Fast forward a few months — Jackson and Hannah go on their first official date in Duxbury, MA. They grabbed a sack of oysters from Island Creek, bought a shucking knife, and sat on the beach at sunset. Jackson shucked his first oyster, and Hannah well, fell in love.
After finishing grad school, Hannah and Jackson moved to Baton Rouge to live out their Louisiana dream. How she missed those tiny, briny East Coast oysters in the land of the meaty Gulf mollusk!
Hannah ordered different sacks of oysters from Island Creek throughout the pandemic — Belon oysters, a Massachusetts variety pack, ones from Prince Edward Island. Jackson experimented with seaweed butters and chargrilling. But the 50 count sacks were always a bit too much for two people, and coming out of the pandemic, Hannah and Jackson were thirsty for a gathering.
November 2021 — the first ever Shucksgiving! A friendsgiving for the shuckers. Hannah and Jackson hosted it in the garage below their Baton Rouge apartment with four oyster varieties from Massachusetts and Maine.
After moving to New Orleans, they kept hosting the event every year in November — experimenting with new oyster purveyors, making green gumbo, pulling out the grill, teaching new people how to shuck.
Their favorite Shucksgiving moments have been (1) seeing people who learned how to shuck at a previous Shucksgiving teach others the following year, (2) meeting new neighbors, (3) connections happening in real-time, (4) hosting friends from out-of-town, (5) Louis’s hand pies, and (6) whoever brings Raising Canes.
When Hannah and Jackson decided to hold their wedding in November 2026, they weren’t sure what would happen to Shucksgiving. Ultimately, they decided they would not take a year off. Shucksgiving must take place every November, wedding or no wedding. This wedding edition of Shucksgiving means even more friends and family can experience the joy of shucking, enjoy the many varieties of oysters, harvest the potluck bounty, and make new friends and family.
So, welcome to the 6th Annual Shucksgiving. Bring a drink, a chair, and a dish to share! No shucking experience required.