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Speakers Corner
Speaker Two - The TMO team

Soup nazis Soup - erior or soup - erseded ?

Every so often in the great culinary scheme of things, a fad food arises that so captivates the moment it almost seems to be alive.

Like a great edible tidal wave washing over the world being consumed by everything in its path this seemingly unstoppable this fad food is elevated to a 'food of the Gods' status by the mere mortal munchers of the world. It has come with many names.. Crudités, Sushi, Tapas, but none have swept the globe with quite the terrifying speed and power of the current "saveur du mois" the food known simply as Soup.


Soup, yes I said soup.

For me soup is something made by dragons, and served to small, whistling, knitted pink Martians, but right now, throughout the entire western world, people of all walks of life, of all colours, creeds and religions are as we speak, sitting in 'Soup Bars' discussing the finer points of Mulligatawny or Slow Cooker Northern White Bean Bacon Chowder. From Gumbos to Bisques, Chowders to Consommé, every last man, woman and child on this planet we call earth has gone soup loopy, and why?
Well it beats me, after all what is soup other than thick flavoured water?

I tried to find out if there was some sinister plot that could explain why soup, a food that in my childhood was mostly associated with being ill, a food served by Jewish grandmothers as a cure for everything from depression to herpes, was suddenly the most popular meal (or snack) on the takeaway, snack-bar menu of the moment. Did you know for example that there are roughly 700 different flavours in the Cup a Soup range worldwide? That there are so called 'chilled' soups that are served 'cold' thus eliminating the scalding of the roof of the mouth problem for eternity ?

Soup up until recently was more associated with the phrase 'Soup kitchen' an establishment dispensing minimum dietary essentials (such as soup and bread) to the needy.
Minimum dietary essentials, MINIMUM… Remember that the next time you fork out 3 of your British pounds for a small bowl of Caribbean seafood stew as dolled out by Soupworks of Soho or a whopping 4 pounds for a small bowl of Tuscan bean with Italian sausage, courtesy of (nazi) Soup Opera.
(And believe me, the guys at Soup Opera are all nice as pie till you tell them you want the 32oz Sweet potato, chickpea & red pepper 'soup de jour' delivered to your doorstep in Rotterdam)

So, why is soup so popular? Could it be the 'Comfort Food' phenomenon, where by the soup is equated with memories of long 'off school sick' days lying in bed with a bowl of Jewish penicillin, watching daytime TV and exploring the joys of an onanistic lifestyle to the Neighbours version of Kylie Minogue?

Could it be the lack of chewing required with a soup, simply fits better into today's hectic lifestyle? I mean, who has time to chew, when faced with the delights of streaming media, multi access cable, pay for view topless mud wrestling dwarves and Jerry Springer?

Or is it simply the fact that soup is absolutely fucking everywhere, no escape and no way out, a new liquid McDonalds for the new liquid millennium.
Lest we forget that 'soup' as described in the dictionary mean for the most part:
[soup] (sp)
n.
1. A liquid food prepared from meat, fish, or vegetable stock combined with various other ingredients and often containing solid pieces.
2. A liquid rich in organic compounds and providing favourable conditions for the emergence and growth of life forms: primordial soup.
3. Slang. Something having the appearance or a consistency suggestive of soup, especially:
a. Dense fog.
b. Nitro-glycerine

But also has a deeper meaning, a meaning slightly more apt, and the next time you enter a soup house remember that it also means:

4. A chaotic or unfortunate situation…

Soup Opera, you have been warned.

Me ? - I'm off for steak and chips….

[Previous Speakers Corner]


by TMO.













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