Clam

• 1. Introduction

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  Clams have been feeding people, animals, and entire ecosystems for longer than written history records. Shell middens near Weymouth and what is now York tell us that coastal communities in Britain were eating them before most recorded history began. On the other side of the world, middens full of clamshells near the shores of Washington state and British Columbia mark the meals of the Nisqually and the Tsawwassen, peoples who relied on the Pacific razor clam and the geoduck for thousands of years. One species, the ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, has been confirmed to live past the age of 500 years. Another lives for only one year. What kind of creature spans such an extraordinary range of lifespans? What makes clams so central to so many different diets, currencies, and ecosystems? And how does an animal with no visible face end up as a staple from Kerala to the coast of New England?

• 2. Anatomy of a Burrower

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  Mercenaria mercenaria, the hard clam that dominates culinary conversation along the eastern United States and the Maritimes of Canada, is built for a life underground. All clams share the same basic architecture: two calcareous shells, called valves, joined at a hinge by a flexible ligament. That ligament does not just hold the shells together. It actively pulls them apart, creating a constant tension that one or two adductor muscles then have to overcome in order to shut the animal tight. Clams also possess kidneys, a heart, a mouth, a stomach, and a nervous system. Many have a siphon, a structure that lets them draw water in and push it out while remaining buried. The powerful burrowing foot is a muscular extension that anchors into sediment, pulls the body down, and keeps the animal half-buried in sand or mud. Razor clams take the burrowing architecture to an extreme. Their elongated, parallel-sided shells have been compared to an old-fashioned straight razor, and that shape allows them to move through sand at remarkable speed. The bamboo clam, Ensis directus, burrows so close to the beach surface that it cannot be harvested by machines without damaging the shoreline itself.

• 3. Filter Feeders and Food Webs

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  Both the Pacific and Atlantic species of walrus eat clams, as do all known subspecies of harbour seals in both oceans. Sea lions, including the California sea lion, and bearded seals depend on them. Even river otters in Asia and North America will pursue the freshwater species. Birds range across the clam's menu just as widely: the roseate spoonbill of North and South America, the Eurasian oystercatcher, the whooping crane and the common crane, the American flamingo found in Florida and the Caribbean Sea, and the common sandpiper all count clams among their prey in the littoral zone. Most species of octopus eat clams regularly, including the Giant Pacific octopus. Clams earn their place in these food webs not just as prey but as processors. All clams are filter feeders, drawing water through their bodies and stripping out particles, which keeps coastal water systems functioning. A clam does not simply sit in the mud waiting to be eaten. It is actively cleaning the water around it the entire time it is alive.

• 4. North American Traditions

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  On the eastern coast of the United States, the bamboo clam is prized specifically for making clam strips, though its habit of burrowing very close to the beach means hand-harvesting is the only option. Handlers must work carefully, because the shell carries a notoriously sharp edge. Clam chowder, clams casino, clam cakes, stuffies, and the New England clam bake, which uses hot rocks and seaweed, are all preparations that developed along this same stretch of coastline. On the West Coast, traditions go back thousands of years. The Chumash of California, the Nisqually of Washington state, and the Tsawwassen of British Columbia all left shell middens as evidence of sustained clam harvests. Today, the butter clam, Saxidomus gigantea, the Pacific razor clam, Siliqua patula, the gaper clam, Tresus capax, the geoduck, Panopea generosa, and the Pismo clam, Tivela stultorum, are all eaten as delicacies. West Coast cooking turns clams into cioppino and local variants of ceviche. Before any of these culinary traditions existed, the Algonquians of Eastern North America had another use for Mercenaria mercenaria entirely: they fashioned its shell into wampum, a form of sacred jewellery and shell money.

• 5. India, Japan, and Regional Cooking

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  In the coastal regions of India, clam cooking varies sharply by region. In Kerala, clams go into curries made with coconut; in the Malabar region they are called "elambakka" and in middle Kerala "kakka". The Thalassery region is particularly associated with clam curry made with coconut. On the Konkan coast of Maharashtra, a preparation called Tisaryachi Ekshipi uses clams with one shell still on. Beary Muslim households in Mangalore prepare a main dish called Kowldo Pinde. In the Udupi and Mangalore area, the local Tulu language names the clam "marvai", and dishes named marvai sukka, marvai gassi, and marvai pundi are part of the regional repertoire. Japan draws on its own set of species. The Shijimi, Corbicula japonica; the Asari, Venerupis philippinarum; and the Hamaguri, Meretrix lusoria, are the three most commonly used varieties. Japanese cooks fold them into hot pot, miso soup, tsukudani, and mixed seafood dishes. Religious rules shape clam consumption in other parts of the world as well. In Islam, clams are considered halal in three Sunni madhhabs but not in the Hanafi school, which permits only fish among aquatic animals. In Judaism, clams are not kosher.

• 6. Britain, Italy, and European Tables

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  Seventy percent of the seafood harvested for aquaculture or commercial purposes in Great Britain is exported, the majority of it to the European Union. Yet shell middens near Weymouth and what is now York show coastal communities eating shellfish long before most recorded history. The razorfish, Ensis siliqua, is a slightly smaller relative of the North American bamboo clam, and it can be found for sale in open-air markets, including Billingsgate Market in London. Cockles, specifically the common cockle, are gathered on beaches in western Wales and further north in the Dee Estuary. The Palourde clam is the most widely harvested native clam in Britain. The hard-shell quahog, introduced by accident, has also established itself in British waters near England. In Italy, clams most often appear in mixed seafood dishes or alongside pasta. The primary variety used in Italian cooking is the vongola, Venerupis decussata. Regional cuisines also reach for the tellina or arsella, Donax trunculus; the fasolaro, Callista chione; the cannolicchio, Solen marginatus; and the Tartufo di mare, Venus verrucosa. The breadth of these regional names suggests that Italian clam cookery developed independently in multiple coastal communities, each naming and preparing its local species in its own way.