Competitive Soup for Seals

by MzRAD · Published September 7, 2011 · Updated February 11, 2015

Large Male Northern Elephant Seal (M. angustirostris)

A Friends of the Elephant Seal Benefit

Ok, so they’re not the most elegant-looking animals you’ve ever seen, but the elephant seals who visit the beaches near Piedras Blancas lighthouse regularly deliver outstanding marine mammal drama for wildlife viewers and travelers along Highway 1. Whether fighting for access to the ladies (who, admittedly, are much cuter than their male counterparts), having sex on the beach, or delivering pups, our Central Coast elephant seals live large on northern San Luis Obispo County beaches.

Click to enlarge

The Friends of the Elephant Seal host their annual benefit for these impressive animals on Saturday September 10 at Cayucos Creek Barn from noon-5pm. This year’s benefit, a Grand Ole Soupabration, features delicious soups vying for the top prize with celebrity judges. A new type of event for a long-time Central Coast educational and conservation program, the Soupabration keeps the drama at elephant seal levels with a competitive soup contest among local restaurants and chefs including Big Sky Café, Et Voila!, Lido, Linn’s of Cambria, Mee Heng Low, Robin’s Restaurant, and The Singing Kitchen. With wines to accompany the competitive soups as well as demonstrations and displays for natural history and protection organizations, the Soupabration is a great way to enjoy the Central Coast’s gourmet bounty as well as to help a very worthy cause.

Join the Friends of the Elephant Seal for this fun fundraiser to help protect our itinerant neighbors and educate the wildlife enthusiasts who visit them to see these animals in their Central Coast rookery. There are still tickets but they’re limited and going fast. If you want to help the Friends of the Elephant Seal continue its educational mission AND sample seven artisan soups AND taste local wines AND learn more about our marine environment, contact the Friends of the Elephant Seal office at 805/924-1628, or visit their website www.elephantseal.org to reserve your tickets.