Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
St. Michaels, MD - The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is excited to share a tasty feature throughout May in the Craig Fuller & Diane Terpeluk Theater. Stop by this month to enjoy the Maryland Public Television production “Eatin’ Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style,” now playing at 11am and 2pm each day and available on demand. It’s perfect timing as CBMM prepares for its Savor the Shore Chesapeake Celebration on Saturday, May 16, highlighting the food on your plate that tells the Chesapeake story.
“Eatin’ Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style” features an unwelcome guest in the Chesapeake Bay that has become a welcome addition to menus, grocery stores, and dinner plates across Maryland. The 27-minute documentary is the fifth installment of MPT’s popular Eatin’ culinary series and premiered during MPT’s Chesapeake Bay Week in 2023.
These screenings are presented in partnership with MPT.
Located in the former Waterfowling building on Navy Point, the Craig Fuller & Diane Terpeluk Theater celebrates the power of storytelling by sharing selections from our library of historic and documentary films throughout the year. We are proud to highlight on-demand short films and longer features that share mission-related stories, including a variety of films featured through the years during MPT’s Chesapeake Bay Week, many of which spotlight CBMM’s campus, collections, and staff expertise. Viewing these films is included with general admission, which is always free for CBMM members.
We hope that you can join us soon to experience a film in our theater as part of your next campus exploration. We have a variety of exciting events, festivals, and programming on the horizon, including our four new Chesapeake Celebrations. Plan your visit today!
“Eatin’ Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style” explores the effort to manage invasive blue catfish by putting them on the menu.
Though Chesapeake cuisine is mostly known for its iconic native species such as blue crabs, oysters, and rockfish, local chefs are now touting the blue catfish as well. Researchers from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Salisbury University uncover the extent to which the population of this invasive species has mushroomed, threatening to upset the biological balance of the bay. Now, a coalition of wildlife managers, seafood marketers, commercial watermen, and recreational fishers have come together to tackle the problem, and they’ve found a solution that is as tasty as it is ecologically beneficial.
Viewers go into the kitchens of Baltimore restaurants such as Heather Smith’s Swill in Pigtown, Zach Mills’ and Pat Hudson’s True Chesapeake Oyster Co. in Hampden, and Nick Schauman’s The Local Oyster in Mount Vernon and Locust Point as they test creative and delicious ways to prepare and serve this savory predator. Chef Billy Kelley, of Davidsonville’s Renditions Golf Course restaurant, gives a sneak peek into his preparation for a blue catfish cooking competition sponsored by the Restaurant Association of Maryland. The Maryland Food Bank and the Frederick Rescue Mission join forces to fill plates with blue catfish for those in need, illustrating how this new culinary movement can benefit the community in numerous ways.
