Rhode Island - "The Ocean State"

 

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations covers an area of 1,214 square miles (3,140 km2) and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares a narrow maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island. The mean elevation of the state is 200 feet (61 m). It is only 37 miles (60 km) wide and 48 miles (77 km) long, yet the state has a tidal shoreline on Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean of 384 miles (618 km). Nicknamed the Ocean State, Rhode Island has a number of oceanfront beaches. It is mostly flat with no real mountains, and the state's highest natural point is Jerimoth Hill, 812 feet (247 m) above sea level.[20] Located within the New England Region, Rhode Island has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of the Narragansett Bay, while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England Upland. Rhode Island was the first of the original Thirteen Colonies to declare independence from British rule, declaring itself independent on May 4, 1776, two months before any other colony. The state was also the last of the thirteen original colonies to ratify the United States Constitution Providence is the largest city and Rhode Island's capital. What do Rhode Islander main cuisine? Living in Ocean State, the answer will be naturally seafood. A better question will be what kind of seafood? Seafood is specialty and a point of pride in New England cuisine. Since Rhode Island is a state in New England Region, the mighty quahog is the unofficial seafood of distinction. The quahog (pronounced "KWAW-hog" or sometimes "KOH-hog") is a hard-shell clam native to the northeast's Atlantic shores. Quahogs can be served raw, steamed, fried, or in chowder, and most famously, in the form of a stuffie, in which the meat of the clam is mixed with bread or cornmeal stuffing and spices and then baked in its shell. Add hot sauce and lemon juice and you've got yourself an authentic Rhode Island stuffie, a dish you won't easily find anywhere else. Our group of diners experience this type of clam in a local restaurant in Phoenix, AZ called Taylor's Chowder House on Wednesday, July 15th. At Taylor's Chowder House, a jaunty little nautical establishment in Phoenix, fried Belly clams are usually on the special menu. In Taylor's Chowder House, one can find other delicious seafood dish such Nantucket sea scallops, lemon pepper tilapia, shrimp trawler, fresh ''Ipswich'' clam, fresh oysters and other seafood combination.

Special thank to Tiscar Valas, Javier Fernandez and Saman Mahmoudi for joining me on this, and last but not least Manasa Danda who started this journey with me from the beginning.