Why The World Needs More Soup

There are two kinds of people in this world; soup people and bad people. Except for maybe The Soup Nazi, it’s near impossible to find a heartless person in this world who makes a good soup, because soup people are angels. Soup people are the ones who leave extra time in the parking meter for you, or hold the elevator open when they see you coming from across the hall. Soup people never have bad breath, and they always tip generously even if they only had a cup of chowder and tap water for lunch. Soup people make the world spin, and never ask for anything in return. To put it simply, soup people are the best.

To quote the late, great Ludvig Van Beethoven, “Only the pure of heart can make good soup”, and he makes a good point. Soup is one of those dishes where you can taste the effort that went into it. If someone haphazardly cut up a bunch of vegetables, turned the burner on high and walked away for 4 hours, you can taste it in their soup. Soup is a dish that requires patience, time, and most importantly love. There’s a reason why out of the 200+ dishes offered at The Cheesecake Factory, soup appears on the menu a solemn, singular time.

Soup Has a Rich History

Many historians believe that soup is just as old as the history of cooking itself, consisting of some of the most basic culinary techniques and requiring little more than heat and a pot. For reasons like these, soup is often one of the most difficult things to master, as chefs often scoff at the simplicity of soup and forget to use the same amount of skill and attention with their daily soups as they do with their more commonly ordered menu items. In this way, ordering soup at a restaurant is one of the best ways to size up a chef. From just a simple bowl of bisque like something off the Panera bread menu, you can learn about the chefs’ technical skills, attention to detail, and most importantly how much they care. If the chef is having a really busy service and has three 8-tops coming in at 6, chances are they won’t have the time to check the seasoning level of the daily soup. However, it’s when they do that pushes a restaurant over the edge, and makes it spectacular.

Soup Feeds the Soul

On a more spiritual level, soup is one of those dishes that feeds you in more ways than one. It starts in your stomach in the most obvious sense of the word, then works it’s way into your bloodstream, your brain, and then finally your soul. Soup can reach those itty-bitty spots in your mouth that rarely see the same kind of love that your teeth do, bringing it’s love and magic to more square inches than your run-of-the-mill sandwich. It’s an all-encompassing, full body experience that doesn’t stay contained to just your taste buds. If it was, then Chicken Noodle Soup would lose most of it’s healing power, something that it is currently out of our scientific level of comprehension and is hard not to automatically chalk up to magic.

But what really makes soup the Mother Theresa of the food world is the love that comes with it. When someone gives you a bowl of soup, they might as well be writing your name on their will, because basically they’re giving you a big ol’ smack on the lips. When I was younger, Matzoh Ball soup was used to cure everything from the sniffles to a broken heart, and that’s because when someone gives you a bowl of soup, they care. They want you to know that they see you, and that whatever you’re going through you don’t need to go at it alone. They want you to be your best self, to come out of the meal feeling twice as good as how you went into it, and to slurp every drop down and give them a big hug at the end. That’s why no one breaks up over soup.

Looking for some delicious soup recipes? Check out our soup recipes for Vegetarian French Onion Soup, Chicken and Gnocchi Soup, Slow Cooker Potato Soup, Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup, Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Vegetable Miso Udon Soup.