The Only Way Dolly Parton Will Eat Clams — 'I Don't Like Them When They're All Big And Chewy'

Dolly Parton is one passionate foodie, so it's no surprise that she's ventured into the food industry despite her busy career as a musical artist. However, just because she loves cooking, dining, and the whole shebang, that doesn't mean she isn't picky with what she eats. For instance, although Parton likes clams, she's not one to enjoy a meal with this seafood item if the meat isn't chopped into smaller bits. "I like clams, but I don't like them when they're all big and chewy, so they chop them up for me," she told The New York Times during an interview in which she ordered chopped clams casino at Wally's and Joseph's restaurant in the Big Apple.

Clams casino is an appetizer made of baked or broiled clams served in half shells and topped with a mixture of bacon bits, breadcrumbs, garlic, shallots, and pepper. This dish is usually consumed in big bites, so you scoop the entire piece with all the toppings using a fork and eat it in one go. In the singer's case, however, she would rather spare herself from a potential choking hazard and savor the dish in small bites. "This way you get the flavor of the clams and bread crumbs all mixed up," she quipped.

Dolly Parton is very particular about what she eats. She likes her chicken salad with a Southern twist, for one. And while Dolly Parton's favorite food may be the crowd-pleasing potato, she prefers them baked with the skin on. With that in mind, it's understandable why she also has some quirks about seafood. On top of having her clams chopped into smaller pieces, Parton will only eat oysters if they're fried. "I like oysters, but fried," she said in the same New York Times interview. Explaining why this is so, she related it to how most of the seafood she ate growing up was prepared the same way. "The only things we had at home were frog legs, river fish, and catfish. And it was almost always fried," she said.

Parton grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, so she didn't have regular access to seafood as a child. In fact, she didn't get to taste a shrimp cocktail until she was 20. Now that she has her own food line, the country singer made sure to include one of her favorite seafood recipes in the menu. Among her frozen meal selections is shrimp and grits with cheese, tomatoes, and scallions; which, of course, comes with a spicy sauce. As for how she came up with the business idea, Dolly Parton has talked openly about how the inspiration came after noticing how hard it was to find Southern-style frozen foods while on the road.