Welcome To The Clam Capital Of America
The Sporkful

Welcome To The Clam Capital Of America

Jun 29, 2026 · 48 min

About this episode

<p>Summer is here, and for years, Dan has spent part of his summer in New England visiting family and friends. This week he’s visiting two New England summer institutions. First is <a href="https://www.woodmans.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Woodman’s</a>—known as the place where fried clams were invented—in Essex, Massachusetts, the clam capital of America. Dan chats with the owner, Steve Woodman, about the origin of their fried clams, and sits down for a meal with someone who's been coming to Woodman’s for decades: his mom. Then, Dan heads to <a href="https://www.graceepiscopalmv.org/summer-lobster-rolls.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grace Church</a> on Martha’s Vineyard, which has some of his favorite lobster rolls of all time. While there, Dan finds out a shocking secret about these very special lobster rolls.</p> <p>This episode was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Ngofeen Mputubwele, Emma Morgenstern, and Andres O’Hara. It was engineered by Jared O’Connell and edited by Peter Clowney and Kameel Stanley. </p> <p>Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to <a href="http://siriusxm.com/sporkful" rel="noopener noreferrer">siriusxm.com/sporkful</a>. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>