Seafood, Leisure, and the Exotic

In New England a seafood feast called a Squantum, dating to the early 1800s, commemorated a supposed connection of early settlers with the sea, land, and Native Americans. At these all-male, late-summer events, chowder was cooked outdoors. Sometimes lobsters, clams, and corn were served as well. Squantums were also held inland, where trout, perch, or pickerel were cooked up. These events were possibly the progenitors of clambakes, a form of in-ground cookery common around the globe that was not necessarily learned from the Indians.