Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Cultured Abalone is a red abalone farm in California, raising one of the rarest and most expensive shellfish in the world. In this episode of Vendors, we visit its Santa Barbara facility to see the entire process — from spawning and hatching microscopic larvae to hand-harvesting market-ready abalone. Once abundant along the California coast, red abalone was nearly wiped out by overfishing and environmental decline. Now, the Cultured Abalone Farm supplies top restaurants across the country with sustainably farmed shellfish.
#seafood #california #farming
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:02 Harvesting Red Abalone
02:19 Feeding Abalone Kelp
04:50 The Hatchery
06:58 Intermediate Stage Abalone & Red Seaweed
08:31 Sorting Abalone by Size
10:50 Packing Abalone Orders
SupervisingProducer/Director: Connor Reid
Camera: Murilo Ferreira, Tom Daly
Production Sound Mixer: Meghan Underwood
Editor: George Chrysiliou
Executive Producer: Stephen Pelletteri
Head of Production: Stefania Orrù
Supervising Producer: Connor Reid
Post-Production Supervisor: Lucy Morales Carlisle
Director of Production: Michelle Fox
Senior Director of Photography: Murilo Ferreira
Supervising Producer, Social Video: Jordan Shalhoub
Eater is the go-to resource for food and restaurant obsessives with hundreds of episodes and new series, featuring exclusive access to dining around the world, rich culture, immersive experiences, and authoritative experts. Binge it, watch it, crave it.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel now! goo.gl/hGwtF0
The Cultured Abalone is a red abalone farm in California, raising one of the rarest and most expensive shellfish in the world. In this episode of Vendors, we visit its Santa Barbara facility to see the entire process — from spawning and hatching microscopic larvae to hand-harvesting market-ready abalone. Once abundant along the California coast, red abalone was nearly wiped out by overfishing and environmental decline. Now, the Cultured Abalone Farm supplies top restaurants across the country with sustainably farmed shellfish.
#seafood #california #farming
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:02 Harvesting Red Abalone
02:19 Feeding Abalone Kelp
04:50 The Hatchery
06:58 Intermediate Stage Abalone & Red Seaweed
08:31 Sorting Abalone by Size
10:50 Packing Abalone Orders
SupervisingProducer/Director: Connor Reid
Camera: Murilo Ferreira, Tom Daly
Production Sound Mixer: Meghan Underwood
Editor: George Chrysiliou
Executive Producer: Stephen Pelletteri
Head of Production: Stefania Orrù
Supervising Producer: Connor Reid
Post-Production Supervisor: Lucy Morales Carlisle
Director of Production: Michelle Fox
Senior Director of Photography: Murilo Ferreira
Supervising Producer, Social Video: Jordan Shalhoub
Eater is the go-to resource for food and restaurant obsessives with hundreds of episodes and new series, featuring exclusive access to dining around the world, rich culture, immersive experiences, and authoritative experts. Binge it, watch it, crave it.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel now! goo.gl/hGwtF0
