Book excerpt: Forget lobster rolls and crab cakes. The dish East Coast residents really clamor for are clam cakes and fritters. In Maine, it's a deep-fried clam patty; in Virginia, a clam-filled pancake; in Southern New England, clam doughnut holes that are a summer sacrament despite their bad nutrition, frequent greasiness and limited availability (or actually, maybe, because of those things). The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide digs into the origins of these cultish regional treats, profiles 50 of the best clam-cake/fritter-making restaurants and shacks and details the most significant artistic and event tributes to this food on Family Guy, in Don Bousquet cartoons and a Pulitzer Prize-winning short story, among others. Do-it-yourselfers will delight in the book's bike and car clam cake crawl itineraries, guides to cake-side beaches and 20-plus recipes. The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide is the definitive clam cake/fritter history, cookbook and travel guidebook, and your dream of lounging around beautiful seacoast settings stuffing your face with delicious fried seafood come true!