celebrate a fortuitous event such as a good fish catch. The settlers started doing the same and gradually the menu expanded. This may be one of the great apocryphal stories of food history, like Marco Polo carrying pasta to Italy from China. Piles of shells attest to the Indian fondness for shellfish, but there is no evidence for or against the hypothesis that the Indians had celebrations on the beach baking clams in seaweed with hot rocks.
The earliest evidence of clams taking on symbolic importance was in the 1720 centennial celebrations of the Pilgrims’ landing, when special attention was given to corn and clams as symbols of the first settlers. As Indians became fewer and fewer, New Englanders increasingly romanticized and idealized them. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it became fashionable to have “Indian-style” outdoor clam feasts. The clams were cooked in pits on heated rocks with seaweed in what they imagined to be the Indian style. After more than a century of white people having such clambakes, it became established that the technique was taken from the Indians or even taught to the Pilgrims by the Indians. Starting in the eighteenth century, these clambakes were called “squantums,” named after a woman who was supposedly the last Indian to live on Boston Harbor. By the mid-nineteenth century other local foods such as corn or lobster were included at squantums. Today, as in the time of America Eats, clambakes remain a common sight in summer dusk on New England beaches.
T hose who are fond of seafood seldom can resist an opportunity to enjoy a shore dinner at their favorite seaside resort. Not many of the present generation, however, have had the wonderful experience or the epicurean delights of an out-door “clam-bake” way down in Maine.
Let us suppose you are already at the seashore, you will be awake at sunrise and in your old clothes.
You will need the help of others in your party in gathering numerous large rocks from the shore. These rocks will be spread out in the form of a flat pile. Then a large wood fire will be built on the rocks and allowed to burn several hours to thoroughly heat the rocks.
While the rocks are heating, put on your rubber boots and, with an old hoe, go to the flats to dig your clams. On the beach you will also gather a quantity of seaweed.
By this time the rocks will probably be heated, and you can remove most of the fire. A layer of seaweed is put on the hot rocks and then your clams, lobsters, potatoes, corn and whatnot. Finally place another layer of seaweed to cover your victuals.
Your muscles will now thoroughly ache and you will need to sit around to relax and smack your lips.
New York Indoor Clam-Bake
M. METEVIER OF FULTON, NEW YORK
S erved once a year. Tickets sell from $1.50 to $2.50, depending upon the number of courses to be served. No decorations whatsoever, every effort is put into the meal. Tables are covered with white paper. All food is served on paper plates. Cardboard containers are used for clam broth; the cover for melted butter.
Menu:
The above meal is favored at the K. C. Home. It is an annual feast. No program, nothing but eats!
Rhode Island Clam Chowder
WALTER HACKETT AND HENRY MANCHESTER
In the founding memorandum for America Eats, Katherine Kellock specifies that regional food rivalries and differences were of particular interest. Clam chowder is an example. It is another one of those New England fetishes that still remains. Even within one small town, locals will argue about who has the best clam chowder. Everyone will agree that it certainly is not any good in New York or Long Island. In fact, the preceding recipe for “New York Indoor Clam-Bake” is a New Englander’s idea of how New Yorkers get it wrong. Putting tomatoes in clam chowder probably comes from Portuguese or Italian cooks in New England, specifically Rhode Island. Massachusetts people expressed their scorn for the Rhode Island tomato and clam soup by
The earliest evidence of clams taking on symbolic importance was in the 1720 centennial celebrations of the Pilgrims’ landing, when special attention was given to corn and clams as symbols of the first settlers. As Indians became fewer and fewer, New Englanders increasingly romanticized and idealized them. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it became fashionable to have “Indian-style” outdoor clam feasts. The clams were cooked in pits on heated rocks with seaweed in what they imagined to be the Indian style. After more than a century of white people having such clambakes, it became established that the technique was taken from the Indians or even taught to the Pilgrims by the Indians. Starting in the eighteenth century, these clambakes were called “squantums,” named after a woman who was supposedly the last Indian to live on Boston Harbor. By the mid-nineteenth century other local foods such as corn or lobster were included at squantums. Today, as in the time of America Eats, clambakes remain a common sight in summer dusk on New England beaches.
T hose who are fond of seafood seldom can resist an opportunity to enjoy a shore dinner at their favorite seaside resort. Not many of the present generation, however, have had the wonderful experience or the epicurean delights of an out-door “clam-bake” way down in Maine.
Let us suppose you are already at the seashore, you will be awake at sunrise and in your old clothes.
You will need the help of others in your party in gathering numerous large rocks from the shore. These rocks will be spread out in the form of a flat pile. Then a large wood fire will be built on the rocks and allowed to burn several hours to thoroughly heat the rocks.
While the rocks are heating, put on your rubber boots and, with an old hoe, go to the flats to dig your clams. On the beach you will also gather a quantity of seaweed.
By this time the rocks will probably be heated, and you can remove most of the fire. A layer of seaweed is put on the hot rocks and then your clams, lobsters, potatoes, corn and whatnot. Finally place another layer of seaweed to cover your victuals.
Your muscles will now thoroughly ache and you will need to sit around to relax and smack your lips.
New York Indoor Clam-Bake
M. METEVIER OF FULTON, NEW YORK
S erved once a year. Tickets sell from $1.50 to $2.50, depending upon the number of courses to be served. No decorations whatsoever, every effort is put into the meal. Tables are covered with white paper. All food is served on paper plates. Cardboard containers are used for clam broth; the cover for melted butter.
Menu:
The above meal is favored at the K. C. Home. It is an annual feast. No program, nothing but eats!
Rhode Island Clam Chowder
WALTER HACKETT AND HENRY MANCHESTER
In the founding memorandum for America Eats, Katherine Kellock specifies that regional food rivalries and differences were of particular interest. Clam chowder is an example. It is another one of those New England fetishes that still remains. Even within one small town, locals will argue about who has the best clam chowder. Everyone will agree that it certainly is not any good in New York or Long Island. In fact, the preceding recipe for “New York Indoor Clam-Bake” is a New Englander’s idea of how New Yorkers get it wrong. Putting tomatoes in clam chowder probably comes from Portuguese or Italian cooks in New England, specifically Rhode Island. Massachusetts people expressed their scorn for the Rhode Island tomato and clam soup by
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