10 Fun Facts in Honor of National Soup Month | Crown (2024)

FAQs

What are 5 interesting facts about soup? ›

Women are twice as likely to order soup for lunch as men. Americans eat more than 10 billion bowls of soup each year. How about the hippo variety? The earliest archaeological evidence for the consumption of soup dates back to 6000 BC, and it was hippopotamus soup.

Who boiled the first soup? The exact time period that soup was invented remains debatable. However according to archaeologist John Speth, our ancient Neanderthal relatives were likely to have begun boiling meat to render fat from animal bones – resulting in a meat broth that they would have drunk as soup.

There's nothing as comforting as a warm, hearty bowl of soup in the winter. That's why January is National Soup Month—a time to celebrate this beloved comfort food. While we enjoy our favorite soups throughout “soup season,” January was officially designated as National Soup Month in 1984 by Campbell Soup Company.

There is an Italian saying: “La zuppa fa sette cose.” It means “Soup does seven things.” Soup quenches thirst, satisfies hunger, fills your stomach, aids digestion, makes teeth sparkle, adds color to cheeks and aids sleep. In other words, soup cures most, if not all human ills.

The word soup derives from the Latin word 'suppa', which refers to bread soaked in broth. It was popularised in the 1600s by the French 'soupe'. The word is also found in Proto-Germanic language as 'sup', which means 'to make liquid'.

Until the arrival of the term soup, such food had been termed broth or pottage. It was customarily served with the meat or vegetable dishes with which it had been made, and (as the dreivation of soup suggest) was poured over sops of bread or toast (the ancestors of modern croutons).

Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.

Then there are the soups that are considered national soups. In the U.S., gumbo is the top national soup, a thick spicy soup from Louisiana. Clam chowder is another. France is into soup in a major way.

Soup is normally associated with fall and winter but there are many soups that are delicious during the summer months (not just gazpacho) and comforting.

Why is it called soup of the day? ›

Ingredients that hadn't been used the day before would be combined by experienced chefs to create a spontaneous soup that would then be served for one day only. Often, the soup would change based on what menu items had been most popular, any catering that had been done, and the price of ingredients.

A soup's quality is determined by its flavor, appearance and texture. A good soup should be full-flavored, with no off or sour tastes. Flavors from each of the soup's ingre- dients should blend and complement, with no one flavor overpowering another. Con- sommés should be crystal clear.