Clam chowder is one of my favorite foods and I have no qualms about calling Progresso a bad clam chowder. It doesn't taste good because it's made from cheap stuff. The taste is pasty rather than rich and savory. When I make my own clam chowder, I use flour and a considerable amount of butter and milk or cream, not soybean oil. Notice in the ingredients list below that cream and butter is less than 1% of this product, which is why this product tastes chalky and bland. It's got the right color, but the wrong taste. The texture is monotonous because it's just the diced potatoes in here that I can taste. Some celery pieces would've given the soup some textural variety. The clam pieces are very few and I don't taste them at all. I don't taste any of the other seafood powder flavorings, so I wonder why Progresso even bothered with them. There's also artificial color in here (white?) and DATEM, which is an emulsifier (keeps the oil from separating out).