It’s Time to “Shellebrate”: The 8th annual Quahog Week returns to Rhode Island May 11-18

It’s every native Rhode Islander’s dream: bowls of creamy, chunky clam chowder, linguini and fresh littlenecks, deep-fried and crunchy clam cakes, chorizo and clams, and mounds of “New England Thanksgiving:” chopped clams mixed with bread, spices, roasted, and served in a large quahog shell, otherwise known as a “stuffie.” 

It’s a Rhode Island delicacy, iconic, and with the state’s nickname “The Ocean State” and its coastal communities entrenched by the ocean and the Narragansett Bay, it’s no wonder that shellfishing and shellfish have its hold on residents. To celebrate the Rhode Island way of life, the ecosystem, and the local food economy, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) commemorates Quahog Week, May 11 – 18, 2024.

Now in its eighth year, Quahog Week is a time for locals and non-locals alike to meet the local industry’s shellfishermen, try quahog in many different forms, or simply kick-off that summer feeling with the first fresh quahog by the coast. 

Quahogs and Quahog Week have a rich history in Rhode Island. Although the official Quahog Week is now eight years old, the idea was prompted by the “Seafood Marketing Collaborative that was established thirteen years ago through a legislative statute that was designated to create a collaborative to basically help consumers become aware of local seafood options and foster small business support,” explains Molly Moran-Ogren, the chair of RI Seafood and the Seafood Marketing Collaborative on behalf of RI DEM director Terrance Gray. This collaborative was a reprise of a former Rhode Island seafood collaborative that was created in the 70s. 

 “Quahog Week was kind of its first project,” she says, with the intent to “bolster the demand for our state shellfish during slow periods of the year,” like February and March. It would support local fishermen by increasing awareness, price, and stock, and demand for the clam. But after feedback from the industry, the celebratory date migrated to times with fairer weather – it takes a hardy fisherman to dig for quahogs in snow, sleet, and freezing water temperatures, and consumers “associate clams with the kickoff of summer, the first clam boil,” Moran-Ogren rationalizes. The creation of what is now Quahog Week, in May, just made sense.   

The new imitative is much bigger. The modern collaborative includes the Department of Health, the Department of Administration, nonprofits, shellfishermen, restaurant groups, chefs, and more, turning the idea from a small awareness campaign to highlighting the entire shellfish industry, showcasing the fishermen’s livelihoods, the culture of shellfishing in Rhode Island, and giving a nod to the state’s heavy small business support via restaurant and seafood market quahog specials. “We shellebrate because it supports a critical industry in our state and the shellfishermen. In 2023, there were 584 licensed commercial fishermen. They harvested about 15.4 million quahogs,” Moran-Ogren says. It’s a “symbiotic relationship.”  

Quahogs can be harvested sustainably year-round, but where they can be harvested and for how long depends on water quality data, rain events, and regulations through the Division of Water Quality and the Division of Marine Fisheries in the DEM. That is how quahogs can be eaten fresh and celebrated in the winter (like the original idea of pushing quahogs in February and March) or in the spring and summer months. 

“We rely on them.” Historically, quahogs had significant value to Native American tribes on the East Coast of the United States and Eastern Canada. The Indigenous peoples used the shellfish for consumption and tools, as well as to create wampum, white and purple beads that had uses from art and history-keeping to diplomacy to money. In 1987, Rhode Island made the quahog and the state shell to commemorate this storied history. Today, quahogs mark an important sector in Rhode Island culture and the local food economy. They also function as filter feeders that help the water quality in areas like the Providence River and Narragansett Bay.  “They’re an important source of protein and food, and they’re quite affordable,” Moran-Ogren says. 

During this year’s Quahog Week, interested clam-eaters can attend free special events put on by RI Seafood at Narragansett Brewery in Providence and The Guild in Warren, as well as an event hosted by Fresh Harvest Kitchen in Westerly to meet the fishermen and taste freshly shucked, complimentary clam bites on May 13, 15, and 16. “It really is an opportunity for the public to come try our local clam, to meet the shell fishermen, and to just kind of celebrate all the different ways we can have clams,” Moran-Ogren enthuses. There will be additional seafood special events throughout the week, and nearly 60 restaurants will have deals, samples, and special dishes all featuring the quahog.  

Can’t get enough of clams? Moran-Ogren explains that Rhode Island residents do not need a license to go quahogging for home bakes and barbeques, and vistors can get a pass through the DEM website. For those who do not know how to dig for quahogs, the DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife offers a Come Clam with Me class during the summer months to learn the proper digging techniques and recipes for cooking the clams.