January is Soup Month

Various forms of soup

I've heard it said that soup is a form of witchcraft. You toss some animal, some vegetable, and some mineral in a pot with some water, heat it to boiling, and boom, you've got soup. But historians will say, it was necessity, not witchcraft, that created soup. See, soup is easy to make, cheap, filling, nourishing, portable, and easy to eat. The consistency of soups varies from thin to thick: some soups are light and delicate; others are so substantial that they verge on being stews. Although most soups are savoury, sweet soups are familiar in some parts of Europe.

Soups have been made since prehistoric times and have evolved over the centuries. The first soups were made from grains and herbs; later, legumes, other vegetables, meat or fish were added. Archaeologists speculate the first soup might have been made by Neanderthals, boiling animal bones to extract fat essential for their diet and drinking the broth.

Originally, sops referred to pieces of bread covered with savory liquid; gradually, the term soup was transferred to the liquid itself. Soups are common to the cuisines of all continents and have been served at banquets as well as in peasant homes. Soups have been the primary source of nourishment for poor people in many places; in times of hardship, soup kitchens have provided sustenance for the hungry.

Some soups are found in recognisably similar forms in the cuisines of many countries and regions – variations of chicken soups and oxtail soups are known around the world. Others remain almost entirely exclusive to their region of origin.

In Xianrendong Cave, Jiangxi Province, China, the first example of a soup bowl was discovered and is thought to date back to 20,000 BC. The ancient pottery showed scorch marks, suggesting the user was making a hot soup of some kind. While this is the earliest example of a soup bowl, ancient soup makers may have simply dug a pit, lined it with animal skin or gut, filled this “pot” with water, and dropped in some hot rocks.

I very rarely have a recipe for any type of soup I make. I may start with one, just to make sure I get the basic ingredients, but I rarely follow them. It's more like, Minestroni should have A, B, & C, Chicken Noodle should have E, F & G, but I've got some S, so I'm gonna throw that in too. Here are a few examples of me throwing various food items at a pot of broth till it tastes good. You should experiment too!!