What better way to celebrate a Rebel victory against the Tigers than with delicious wild-caught Gulf seafood?
This Saturday, Nov. 21, “Mississippi seafood” is partnering with “Louisiana seafood” to bring a taste of the Gulf to the Grove.
“Our goal is to promote local seafood,” Melissa Scallan, the public affairs director for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, said.
“We get a lot of imports in this country and only about 2-3 percent of imports are tested for safety, and all of our seafood is tested,” Scallan said. The Mississippi Gulf Coast produces between 4-5 million pounds of seafood per year.
“What we want to do is encourage people to help our state’s economy as well as our local [economy], because there are plenty of people up in Oxford and all throughout Louisiana who sell seafood,” Scallan said. “It is a much fresher taste, the taste is just so much better when you use local seafood.”
“This sounds awesome, I will definitely be tweeting at them tomorrow,” Mary Martin, a senior Classics major from Plano, Texas, said. “I would love a seafood chef to come cook for me at the tent.”
Contestants should show their Rebel or Tiger pride and explain why they are interested in this initiative, and why “Mississippi seafood” should crash their tailgate with some seafood fun.
Two sets of fans from each team will be chosen to receive a visit from a chef, five pounds of local shrimp and a cooking lesson on how to incorporate shrimp and other seafood into their tailgate traditions.
“We are just looking for people who are enthusiastic about their teams, their tailgate and their seafood,” Scallan said.
Molly Berra, a junior nutrition and dietetics major from St. Louis, Missouri, will also be participating in this weekend’s activity.
“I have never seen anything like this before,” Berra said. “Having fresh seafood at our tailgate would definitely be a great addition to our Grove experience. I’ll be making sure that my brothers, sisters and everyone at the tent tweets to them as well to make sure we win.”
The event will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. Be sure to follow “MS Seafood” on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and use the hashtag #SeafoodShowdown15 to tell them why you love Gulf seafood before the deadline on Friday, Nov. 20, at noon.
