Galilee,

Rhode Island

NEW ENGLAND’S FISHING FRONTIER

As the salt pond along Galilee Escape Road drains with the approaching low tide, embossed mounds in the soft silt are exposed. A telltale hole in the center of each one signals that a clam is buried in the general vicinity. Still, it takes mad digging to find them. For gloppy organisms without brains, they’re craftier than you’d imagine.

The $11 that out-of-staters pay for a 14-Day Tourist Shellfish License (Rhode Islanders and kids clam for free) is a small price to fork over—not just for the incomparable taste of freshly dug quahogs. If tapping an app on your phone is the hardest you’ve hunted for food lately, clamming will remind you:

Our bodies weren’t built to sit all day, elbows locked, fingers on keys or screens.

On the surface, Galilee appears to be little more than a parking lot for the Block Island Ferry. Stick around southern Narragansett’s gritty fishing village, though, and you’ll have a deep, authentic experience of the nearly ’round-the-clock chase that makes this Rhode Island’s most lucrative port, with $4.3 million in average monthly landings.

Like the fluke that you can reel up on party-boat expeditions —their eyeballs both migrated to one side, so that they can nestle flat on the ocean floor and dodge predators—Galilee’s fisher men are ingenious at adapting. They’re New England’s own cowboys, inventing new gear and techniques, forging new markets for underappreciated fish species.

JOIN NIGHT OWLS IN PURSUIT OF GALILEE’S MOST IMPORTANT CATCH: CALAMARI, CHRISTENED RHODE ISLAND’S OFFICIAL APPETIZER. WALK OUT ONTO THE DOCKS TO BUY JUST-TRAPPED LOBSTERS DIRECTLY FROM THE MEN WHO CAUGHT THEM.

New England’s fishing frontier isn’t solely a place for spectators, who unfold chairs along the rocky channel, spread towels at Salty Brine State Beach, or grab tables on restaurant decks to observe more than 200 commercial vessels at work. Join night owls in pursuit of Galilee’s most important catch: calamari, christened Rhode Island’s official appetizer. Walk out onto the docks to buy just-trapped lobsters directly from the men who caught them. Order scup or monkfish or tautog at George’s of Galilee. Here, thirdgeneration restaurateur Kevin Durfee has quietly transformed this enduring clam shack into Rhode Island’s place to taste the fish of the future: sustainable, healthy, so fresh that “our delivery person walks to us,” he says. Gone are three-quarters of the fryolators that churn out batter-wrapped seafood. Durfee has invested in revamped kitchens, where experimentation with the sea’s diversity supports the local fleet’s hardworking cast of salty characters. And he has remodeled the dining room, now an elegant space for fine dining …

There’s nothing pretentious about Galilee. Nothing Disneyfied. When the sky burns red at night, it’s an unscripted harbinger of a perfect day on the water— a glowing confirmation that life’s most satisfying adventures are ones you must

—Kim Knox Beckius

For “When You Go” information, see p. 136.

From humble pancake breakfasts to faith-based bean feasts to tri-state chowder cooko s, New England is a festival-goer’s paradise. In church basements, on town greens, and in city parks, we gather to indulge and commune. (Pass the Del’s!)

Our food festivals, large and small, are celebrations of our native flavors, dedicated to the preservation and glory of the New England table. Take any familiar food— maple syrup to johnnycakes, cranberries to cheddar— and you’ll find a festival for it. And not just for ye olde victuals, either. We’re also a land of food trucks, whoopie pies, and late-harvest Riesling.

Herewith, Yankee presents a selection of our favorite events featuring classic regional cuisine, plus a sampling of quirkier attractions and grander food and wine extravaganzas.

BY CHRISTIE MATHESON TYPE DESIGN BY TWO ARMS INC.

RESEARCH BY BETHANY BOURGEAULT

Vermont Maple Festival

APRIL 22–24, 2016

St. Albans, Vermont 802-524-5800 vtmaplefestival.org

Vermont is the number-one maple-syrup-producing state in the U.S., so it stands to reason that a festival highlighting the state’s “liquid gold” is no small affair. At the Vermont Maple Festival, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, syrup makers compete for prizes and glory in the biggest maple contest in the state (with categories from amber maple to maple cream).

There are also cooking competitions, sugarhouse tours, musical performances, a talent show, a parade, the 8.5-mile “Sap Run” road race, and countless maple treats to eat and drink.

Chowder Festival

JUNE 4, 2016

Portsmouth, New Hampshire 603-436-2848 prescottpark.org

Looking for a chowder fix? This is the biggest and oldest (at 32 years) chowderfest in New England, held at Prescott Park on

Portsmouth’s beautiful waterfront. Chefs from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts serve up signature variations on clam, seafood, corn, and other chowders— 500 gallons in all—in hopes of capturing the crown. Visitors can wash down their samples with cold beer, raw oysters, and live music.

Summer

Vermont Cheesemakers Festival

JULY 17, 2016

Shelburne, Vermont 866-261-8595 vtcheesefest.com general admission: $60

There are more cheesemakers per capita in Vermont than in any other state, and most of them will be here, with mouthwatering samples of their cheddars, blues, Alpine-stye rounds, and more. (Disclosure: Yankee is a media sponsor of this event.) Cheesemaking seminars and culinary demonstrations go on throughout the day at beautiful Shelburne Farms, a 1,400-acre oasis on Lake Champlain. Grab tickets early for this one—it sold out in 2015.