Legal Seafoods Chowder 'Just Isn't On The Menu So Far' For Trump Inauguration
BOSTON (CBS) -- Oh, how we love our clam chowder in New England. We build whole festivals around it.
And ever since the first Reagan inaugural in 1981, chowder from Legal Seafoods has been a staple of inauguration festivities.
But perhaps not this time. According to Roger Berkowitz, CEO of Legal Seafoods, there's been radio silence out of the Trump transition team on the quadrennial chowder shipment. And a Trump transition spokesman told the Boston Globe that if in fact they've decided to dump the chowder, it wasn't the president's decision.
"Trump's promised a different way of doing things in D.C., so maybe chowder just isn't on the menu so far," says State Rep. Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman) the co-chair of Trump's Massachusetts campaign.
It's the kind of situation that breeds conspiracy theories.
After all, the president-elect is a lifelong New Yorker. Is it possible he plans to replace genuine New England clam chowder with -- ugh - Manhattan style?
We confronted Diehl on this.
"Look, this is just another reason why its good that I'm advising him," he said. "I will make sure that Massachusetts gets its due, and that Manhattan clam chowder should be off the menu."
And if that awful red gloop does show up on the inaugural menu?
"They'll be angry down there, red sauce stains the shirt," insists Diehl. New England clam chowder is the way to go.
His advice to the president-elect?