Soups are light and heartwarming, and, can be very healthy. Different
regions of the globe have their different varieties of soup and I would
think there are thousands of different recipes for soup. Most soups
naturally take the flavors of the region from which they come.
We take soups for granted today because they are so easy to purchase at
the grocery. Heck, you can even whip up a homemade soup in less than 2
hours! If we look back in time several hundred years ago and we'll
certainly see a different story.
The word "soup" comes from the word "sop", you know like "sop the
gravy", in which a piece of bread is dipped in a pot of remaining juices
in a dish. The first soup reportedly dates back to 6,000 B.C. More
currently (1,500's or so) the New World travelers made soups, but, not
for the reasons we do. Back then the soup was the final exercise in
using every morsel of food available (available food and hunger was an
everyday concern). Animal bones (seafood and livestock) were used, and,
with a twofold purpose; residual pieces of meat were extracted, and, the
bone marrow was extracted as the bones were normally broken before going
into the pot. You could call this little process the making of a classic
stock. Vegetables were thrown in and there you had it, a soup.
The soup was a good way to keep foods from spoiling. Historically the
big kettle was hung over a fire and would be kept hot for extended
periods of time, sometimes days or more. The early folks would just keep
adding water and when another ingredient was acquired it could go into
the soup. As you can imagine creativity was not the objective, this was
survival. Through this simple survival technique came a dish that was
considered "fit for the King" in many settings.
You ever heard of "Portable Soup"? No, it wasn't a can of soup, try
again [we're talking about the years gone by here]. Soup would be cooked
down until it was extremely thick. At the proper point the soup was
removed from the fire and cooled. The final result was was a dense cake
of condensed soup that could be wrapped and brought on long trips by
land and sea. When it was time to eat, a pot of water was heated and the
"Portable Soup" was tossed in.
Today we still enjoy soup but the variations are almost unlimited. It's
a refreshing, simple and small taste of good food that just "hits the
spot" on a cold day. Here are a few of my favorites.
Vegetable Beef Soup
Vegetable Chicken Soup
Oyster Soup
Potato Soup