Join us November 5th to November 7th, 2021 as we celebrate these delicious, invasive, spiky creatures. This will be a weekend of incredible food prepared by world-class chefs, hands-on education about the complex ecology of our Pacific Ocean, cracking and preparation demos, and so much more!
Proceeds benefit the amazing work being done by the Noyo Center and the Mendocino Area Parks Association.
Explore purple urchin on the plate as some of the region’s best chefs serve up unique dishes featuring this incredible ingredient. Purchase meals individually from participating restaurants.
Discover more about the purple urchin and ocean ecology than you thought possible with our panels of experts. Learn about what we eat, and its delicate place in the overall ecosystem – how the interplay of purple urchin with local kelps impacts other aspects of the food chain (such as abalone), how a downward spiral in sea star population led to a surge in purple urchin numbers, and what is being done and can be done to help improve the situation.
We’ll have speakers from the Noyo Center, the Mendocino Area Parks Association, The Waterman’s Alliance, The Fort Bragg Blue Economy, and others.
Get out on the beach with our friends from the Freedive Shop and the Waterman’s Alliance and learn how you would harvest purple urchin. Learn to crack them open safely and efficiently. And get some tips on how to clean the gonads to enjoy them fresh or cook with them.
This is the perfect accompaniment to a weekend of chef-prepared feasts and world-class education.
Chef Matthew Kammerer will be featuring purple urchin on his incredible menu at the Harbor House Inn all weekend long. Chef Matt cooks with urchin virtually year round, focusing on dishes that highlight the natural flavor of the urchin. He is an ardent believer in using purple urchin, adapting to the new ocean reality.
Chef Jason Azevedo at the Little River Inn will be featuring purple urchin all weekend on the menu, in dishes that play on the inn’s historic connection to ocean-caught food.
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