I imagine that the first clams that ever crossed my palate were in a can of Campbell's Clam Chowder. After college, when I was working my first job, I was rather poor for a while. I also was almost totally inexperienced as a cook, so for a year or so I lived on fast food, canned tuna, Campbell's Soup, sandwiches, and TV dinners. I quickly got tired of the usual soups: tomato with crackers crumbled in it, vegetable, vegetable beef, chicken noodle, and chicken and rice. So, I tried some that I wasn't familiar with, like clam chowder. Campbell's clam chowder was not fishy-tasting, and I was soon eating it fairly often. My next experience with clams was the deep-fried clams at Lum's restaurant. I loved them. Anything crunchy pushes one of my buttons. Clams have become a favorite of mine.
Below are links to many of the clam recipes on this site. There are also "linguine and clams" or "clam sauce" recipes on this site. You can find those with the "search."
Lundy's Brooklyn Red Clam Chowder
Bobette's Connecticut Clams Casino Chowder
Phaed