When: March 31
Raw clams are a New England and Gulf Coast tradition with roots in Indigenous shellfish culture going back thousands of years. The technique for opening them safely and the right accompaniments separate the experience from the imitation.
A raw clam on the half shell is one of the most immediate, oceanic tastes in food — and one of the most mishandled at home.
Clam consumption in North America predates European contact by thousands of years. Shell middens found along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts date back 5,000–10,000 years and document the extensive shellfish harvesting practices of Indigenous coastal peoples. The clambake — clams and other shellfish steamed in seaweed over hot rocks — is a coastal Algonquin tradition that European settlers adopted and that became foundational to New England food culture. The raw clam on the half shell as a restaurant and bar tradition developed in the 19th century, particularly in New York, Boston, and New Orleans, where raw bars served clams and oysters as economical food for working-class dockworkers and as fashionable appetizers for the wealthy simultaneously — an unusual dual-class food. The most common raw clam varieties in the United States: Littleneck (small, sweet, the most commonly served on the half shell), Topneck (medium, slightly less sweet), Cherrystone (larger, sometimes eaten raw or...