# Crumb Quarterly

> A magazine about food and the people who make it.

*Issue 14 · Winter*

## The last oyster shucker on Pier Nine

![The last oyster shucker on Pier Nine](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/oysters.svg)

Forty years, one knife, and a pier that is about to become flats. Our cover story.

[Read the cover story](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/stories/the-last-oyster-shucker) · [Subscribe](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/subscribe)

*In this issue*

## New stories

[All stories](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/stories)

### Bread at 4 a.m.

![Bread at 4 a.m.](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/bread.svg)

A night shift with the bakers who feed a neighbourhood before it wakes.

[Read the story](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/stories/bread-at-4am)

### A market in winter

![A market in winter](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/market.svg)

What a street market sells when nothing grows, and who still comes.

[Read the story](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/stories/a-market-in-winter)

### Six soups for a cold flat

![Six soups for a cold flat](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/soup.svg)

One pot, one hour, one loaf of yesterday's bread.

### In defence of the fig

![In defence of the fig](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/figs.svg)

A fruit that refuses to travel, and why that is its best quality.

*From the editor*

This issue is about the people who work while the rest of us sleep: bakers, shuckers, market porters. Their food is on your table by breakfast; their names almost never are.

*Recipes*

## Cook this weekend

### Six soups for a cold flat

![Six soups for a cold flat](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/soup.svg)

One pot, one hour, one loaf of yesterday's bread.

### In defence of the fig

![In defence of the fig](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/figs.svg)

A fruit that refuses to travel, and why that is its best quality.

### The cave under the dairy

![The cave under the dairy](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/cheese.svg)

Wheels, mould and the patience of a cheesemaker's grandson.

*Letters*

## Readers write back

### R. Tan

I cooked the lentil soup from Issue 12 for my father. He asked for the magazine, not the recipe.

Port Elling

### Dev S.

Finally a food magazine that talks to the people washing up.

Line cook

### Hanna W.

The market piece made me go back to a stall I had walked past for ten years. The pears were extraordinary, and the woman selling them had a story better than yours.

Subscriber since Issue 1

### Anonymous

Please never put a celebrity chef on the cover.

Letters page favourite

## A Sunday letter from the kitchen table

One story, one recipe, one thing we ate this week.

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## On our table this week

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@crumbquarterly

[On our table this week](https://example.com/crumb)

![](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/bread.svg)

4 a.m. rye

![](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/oysters.svg)

Pier Nine

![](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/market.svg)

Winter pears

![](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/soup.svg)

Test kitchen

![](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/figs.svg)

Last figs

![](https://t-magazine.clearcms.app/media/cheese.svg)

Cave visit