Or, at least, the most characteristically Rhode Island way to make an appearance on a prime-time national stage. Charlotte Alter, a national correspondent for Time magazine, compared him to Roger Williams, the exiled Puritan minister who founded Rhode Island in search of religious freedom. ... Where else would you go but the beach in Rhode Island for a restaurant serving calamari?”McNamara’s campaign to make the dish Rhode Island’s state appetizer was one of the more contentious issues taken up by the state legislature in recent years. ADSix years later, he told the Providence Journal, the state’s marketing efforts have turned Rhode Island calamari into an “upscale appetizer” and an annual $60 million industry. “They have to get to Rhode Island first and get to the calamari, and have it on the beach with me and John,” he said.

Source: Washington Post August 19, 2020 11:06 UTC