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The concept of soup has likely been around since man first came out of the primordial soup himself. There are plenty of different kinds of this tasty liquid: clear, thick, warm, cold, whatever your fancy, really. Here are a few facts and figures that may amuse you no matter your preferences.
• There’s nothing better when you’re sick than a nice hearty bowl of soup. Just ask this panda. Also, research is being conducted to see if vegetable soups can be used to treat cancer.
• Soup can be good for the soul and PR. In 1930, Al Capone opened a soup kitchen to help rehabilitate his image.
• In 2007, a chilli-beef soup called caldillo was prepared by Hugo Chavez’s government, winning the title of World’s Largest Soup, and beating the former record holder, a 1,332-gallon goulash from Romania. Looking to whip up a giant bowl of soup? Hmm, start with 530 kg (half a ton) of onions, 400 lbs of dried pasado chillies, 15 or so cows and … you get the idea. It’ll leave you with 1,413 gallons of soup (or the equivalent of 70 bath tubs), and lots of dishes.
• Bean soup is on the menu in the Senate’s restaurant every day, and has been for over 100 years. There are several stories about the origin of that mandate, but none have been corroborated. In one tale, the Senate’s bean soup tradition began early in the 20th-century at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho. Another one attributes the request to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, who expressed his fondness for the soup in 1903. You can find the recipe here.
• Some people really, really love soup. Frank Sinatra always requested soup in his dressing room before performing. And if you were curious, Ol’ Blue Eyes liked both chicken noodle and tomato.
• You can’t talk about soup without mentioning Campbell’s – and more specifically, John Dorrance, inventor of condensed soup. A chemist, Dorrance studied with chefs in France before work for his uncle’s Campbell company for $7.50 a week. He finally developed a condensed soup in 1897, which won the Gold Medallion for excellence at the Paris Exposition in 1900, a fact which has remained on cans ever since.
• Of course, Andy Warhol made Campbell’s soup iconic with his art work. When asked why he used Campbell’s, Warhol replied, “I used to drink it. I used to have the same lunch every day, for twenty years, I guess, the same thing over and over again.”
• If you’re looking for something different, try learning how to make Cosmic Soup, courtesy of NOVA (With actual, edible ingredients, unlike this soup).
• The real life inspiration for the Seinfield “Soup Nazi“, Al Yeganeh, experienced great success after the episode was aired. He has since franchised, although his company’s website now offers a vague and ominous message: I SOLD NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS TO ORIGINAL SOUP MAN. I LEFT UNITED STATES….ANY INQUIRY, CONTACT THEM.
Ok Flossers – what are some of your favorite soups, homemade or otherwise?
Hungry for more? Venture into the Dietribes archive.
‘Dietribes’ appears every other Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach. You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.
Comments (15)
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My husband made tomato soup one day when my sister and her boyfriend were coming over for dinner. My sister raved about it, particularly because my husband had put shredded carrots in it. She asked me to ask him for the recipe, and when I finally remembered to, my husband simply said, “It’s Betty Crocker.” You can’t beat a fictional housewife for great recipes!
posted by Amy D on 10-15-2008 at 12:20 pm
I LOVE soup! I make it a lot for my family, although they don’t share my enthusiasm regarding leftover soup. Chili, Vegetable Beef, Chicken Noodle, Broccoli Cheese, Potato Cheese.
“MMMM….Good” says it all!
posted by bzzyb on 10-15-2008 at 12:34 pm
Thank you so much for posting a link to the recipe for Senate Bean Soup. I was an intern for a month this summer in Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office (one of the Senators from my home state of Alaska) and I would often get that soup (the cafeteria made really good grilled cheese sandwiches as a complement). Now I can make some for my own!
posted by Samantha Novak on 10-15-2008 at 12:45 pm
Campbell’s chunky has always served me right. It’s perfect for those dieting as well as it’s reasonably low in calories, and remarkably filling.
posted by Kinglink on 10-15-2008 at 12:55 pm
Mmmmm, nothing beats borscht. Not the “beet soup” some people think of, but the “cabbage-butter-potato-and-cream-with-beets-for-a-hint-of-colour” soup. I grew up in the Kootenays, which has a large Doukhobor population (there were Russian courses in high school!) and I would beg my friends whose last names ended with -off to take me home when their Babas made borscht. And homemade rye bread. Love it!
posted by Kikadee on 10-15-2008 at 1:19 pm
i love soup! all kinds of soup.
posted by kelly on 10-15-2008 at 1:35 pm
Cowboy beans rule!
ReCaptcha: its Stewart
posted by qt314159265 on 10-15-2008 at 1:43 pm
Honestly, that US Senate bean soup is my favorite! They sell it all over the place here in DC, although I only recently discovered it.
posted by HP on 10-15-2008 at 2:03 pm
Top Secret Recipes has offered free knock-off Soup Nazi recipes for a while now.
The mulligatawny is pretty good… I haven’t tried the others.
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipedetail.asp?sessionid=&login=yes&id=93&agree=yes
posted by Jason! on 10-15-2008 at 2:48 pm
My favorite soup to start off the fall season is potato. I like this one.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb bacon strips, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon Tobasco sauce
1/2 C sour cream
Shredded Cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, boil peeled and cubed potatoes in chicken broth until very tender. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Crumble backon and set aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add the chicken broth you cooked the potatoes in. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the cooked potatoes, the cream, sour cream, bacon and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon some of the bacon and cheese.
I like to put a potato masher in the pot and give it a few good squishes first. You can add more flour if the soup seems thin.
posted by Karen on 10-15-2008 at 4:48 pm
Jason! Top Secret Recipes is my favorite recipe sight! I live in the UK and can’t get a lot of the food I love from America. The Pasta Fagoli soup from Olive Garden is a big hit when I make it and it reheats like a dream.
I also recently discovered that I like tomato soup. My mom ate it while I was growing up and it never appealed to me until now. I prefer homemade over Campbell’s though.
posted by Tricia on 10-15-2008 at 4:59 pm
Oops that Pasta Fagioli, not Fagoli. And thanks for the potato soup recipe Karen! I’ll be trying that one out since it’s already well into fall weather here.
posted by Tricia on 10-15-2008 at 5:01 pm
“since man first came out of the primordial soup himself.”
I think that Mental Floss needs to cover the other side of the debate of the origin of man. Do an article on Answers in Genesis
posted by Genesis on 10-15-2008 at 5:40 pm
Yummmmm… Split pea with bacon and creamy tomato are my favorites. My kids really like beef stroganoff made with cream of mushroom soup, although I’m more likely to reach for the organic stuff now, rather than Campbell’s, er, at least as long as we can afford it. I got 15 huge butternut squash off of 3 plants this year (thanks to homemade compost) so I definetly have butternut soup in my future! Ha, guess that settles the question of what’s for dinner tonight! :-)
posted by Pam on 10-15-2008 at 6:27 pm
Love soup! Although I can’t eat tomato soup without also having a grilled cheese sandwich (cut diagonally, of course).
Also love split pea soup with ham.
Here in NZ, almost every place serves pumpkin soup (blech!).
And as far as I know, there is no ‘debate’ about the origin on man – just people who don’t understand science.
posted by Dawn on 11-13-2008 at 8:38 pm