2012 Florida Grande Chowder Wars

Another event in the procession of Comfort Food Cook-Offs at Florida Grande is the Chowder Fest.

Chowder (chou'dər) n.

1. A thick soup containing fish or shellfish, especially clams, and vegetables, such as potatoes and onions, in a milk or tomato base. 

2. A soup similar to this seafood dish: corn chowder.

Informative maybe, but not exactly interesting.
In fact, there seems to be a lot of debate about what qualifies as a true chowder and each of the many variants has its cohort of passionate minions defending its lineage. Chowderistas will debate endlessly as to which style is the authentic chowder, adding an occasional (and usually unchallenged) “award-winning" to their rhetoric in their endeavors to dignify their claims.

Cauldron or Chaudiere

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word chowder to the fishing villages along the coast of France from Bordeaux to Brittany where it was probably derived from the Latin word calderia, originally meaning a place for warming things and later applied to a cooking pot. The word calderia morphed into cauldron and, in French, became chaudiere.
Originally despised as a "poor man's food", chowders, made with vegetables or fish, have been traced back to the 16th century at which time they were indeed stewed in a cauldron. Fish chowders were the forerunners of clam chowder but, in reality, old-fashioned chowder builders threw in just about everything that flew, swam, or grew in the garden.
This year there were six entrants vying for top honors when battle was joined. You can see our in-house Chowder Champs right here in pictures kindly provided by Sandra Gallup.