History of Soup: It's Mmm Good!

 

Soup.  It's what we crave in cold weather.  It's liquid.  It's warm.  It satisfies.  But I was surprised to find that there's much more to soup than you might imagine.  For one, did you know that soups are classified into two broad groups, clear and thick, and that thick soups are classified according to what thickening agent is used in them?  There are purees.  There are bisques.  There are veloutes.

And where did the word "soup" come from?  It actually came from "sop," a dish consisting of a thick stew that was soaked up with pieces of bread.

Finally, commercial soups weren't popular until the invention of canning in the 19th century.  That's when Campbell's Soup Company invented the first condensed soup in a can. Had enough?  If not, read more about the history of soup here.