Oyster ace Gordon is such a pleasant schucker

Chef Gordon Reekie shucked his way to the top of this year’s Scottish Oyster Shucking Championships.

He was competing in the Oyster Shucking Championships, which were held as part of the Stranraer Oyster Festival.

Gordon, from That’s Yer Dinner, took part in the competition organised by Seafood Scotland and hosted by world Guinness record holder, Patrick McMurray.

Ten 10 of Scotland’s finest shuckers representing Isle of Islay Oysters, Loch Ryan Oysters, Rossmore Oysters, Gamba, Rogano, City of Glasgow College and Henry’s Bay House, competed against each other to be crowned Scottish Oyster Shucking Champion 2018.

Gordon finished on top, and will now represent Scotland at the World Oyster Shucking Championships in Galway at the end of September.

2018 Scottish Oyster Shucking Championship competitors (Photo: Susie Lowe)

The Stranraer Oyster Festival saw half a tonne of oysters consumed over the weekend, as thousands of seafood street-food meals were served and traders reported widespread sell outs and record trading days.

Organised by Stranraer Development Trust to raise the profile of Stranraer as a coastal tourism destination, the oyster festival has attracted widespread support from the community and from funding organisations who have been keen to back the community-led economic regeneration in the town.

Stranraer Oyster Festival is designed around celebrating Scotland’s last remaining wild, native oyster fishery, which lies in Loch Ryan.
The native oyster was once widespread around Scotland and much of the UK but has been harvested to near extinction which means almost all other oysters for sale in the UK come from oyster farms.

Next year’s Stranraer Oyster Festival takes place from 13-15 September.