A thick soup typically containing seafood or vegetables, often made with milk or cream and usually including potatoes.
From French 'chaudière,' a type of cauldron used by fishermen. The word entered English through the fishing communities of Newfoundland and New England, where French and English fishing traditions merged.
The great chowder divide between New England (white with cream) and Manhattan (red with tomatoes) sparked such fierce culinary rivalry that Maine actually passed a law in 1939 making it illegal to call tomato-based soup 'chowder'! Rhode Island stays neutral with clear chowder containing neither cream nor tomatoes.
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