Is It Actually Illegal To Add Tomatoes To Clam Chowder In Maine? While every state, including Maine, is ripe with laws that feel outdated and disconnected, one story keeps popping up on Reddit feeds over and over again. Many believe that there is actually an existing law in Maine that punishes people for adding tomatoes to their clam chowder. As wild and laughable as that may seem, it's not just the work of someone's imagination on the internet. MSPhotographic According to the New England Historical Society, a Maine representative by the name of Cleveland Sleeper introduced a bill to the legislature in 1939 that would have made adding tomatoes to clam chowder illegal statewide. If a restaurant or individual was caught serving such a concoction, their penalty would be to dig up a barrel of clams at high tide. At the time, Sleeper believed he had enough support to pass the bill into law but before a vote was brought to the floor, a duel of sorts was proposed.