Here are some clam dishes that we love, especially at the end of the summer. New Englanders made chowders said to be originated by Bretons, while Bostonians claim to have invented the fried clam - though the idea of frying seafood could also have come from New Orleans, with its mixed African, Spanish, and French heritage.Ĭhinese and other Asian immigrants have contributed their recipes, too, making today the best time ever to eat clams here - whether they be little necks or other quahogs (derived from a Native American word that means “horse fish”), razor clams, soft-shells, or Manila clams. Sicilian and southern Italian immigrants stuffed them and baked them, and incorporated clams into pastas. Local Native Americans were cooking them in fire pits and using the shells for wampum even before the Dutch and English arrived. For decades, New Yorkers have had a special relationship with clams.
