President-elect Donald Trump is breaking yet another tradition for his impending inauguration — the serving of Legal Sea Foods New England clam chowder to his hungry guests.
In a tradition that began with Ronald Reagan, American presidents have served New England clam chowder at their inaugurations supplied by Legal Sea Foods, according to The Boston Globe. Laura Condeluci, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, told the paper that chowder isn’t going to be an option this year.
Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz was a bit more optimistic, saying, “I haven’t heard from anybody yet.” The tradition began when Reagan decided to serve foods from all 50 states at his first inauguration, Berkowitz said.
One possible reason for Trump’s decision was that Legal Sea Foods ran an ad about Trump’s border wall idea. Another ad played off Trump’s reportedly small hands.
“I can assure you, it’s not the size of your hand that’s important, but rather, the size of your shrimp,” the ad said. That said, the company also ran an ad about Hillary Clinton, with a photograph of her containing the caption, “We have a term for cold fish. Sushi.”
Regardless of Trump’s reasons, this isn’t the first major inauguration tradition that he has broken. He also replaced Charlie Brotman, who has announced every inauguration parade since 1957, with Steve Ray, a freelance announcer who volunteered for Trump’s presidential campaign.
It is also unclear why Trump replaced Brotman. Although Brotman did attend a Clinton campaign event at his retirement home, he claims that he merely went there to tell former president Bill Clinton that he had once announced his parade.
