No matter what you call it, soup is excellent cuisine; especially when fall and winter approach.  Ever wonder what the word soup means? The underlying word is one of soaking from the Latin verb suppare. Yes, this is very similar to the German root sup, as pronounced sup and supper in English. These terms eventually evolved to the noun suppa and in old French, eventually passed on as soupe.

For efficiency it is no wonder that various meats, vegetables and broth were combined in a large pot to invent new exciting flavors and textures. Our ancestors survived by leaving nothing to waste. Today soup is less of a left-over meal and more of a gourmet treat.

Soup is referred to by many terms through the cultures of the world. For example, the English borrowed from the French bisk to create bisque – a thick soup usually in a pureed form and many times containing crayfish or lobster.  Consomme is derived from 16^th century French culinary terms and refers to a clear soup, similar to broth served hot or cold at the beginning of a meal.  Chowder goes back to the 18^th century and is referred to a fisherman’s stew such as New England clam chowder. It is believed that chowder is derived from the French caldron. Sailors threw in their catch to make a communal stew.

Today this history is wrapped into our modern diets with gourmet soups that are enjoyed as meals in themselves. Additionally when busy shoppers are seeking unique food gifts, soup gifts often fill the bill. That’s where GourmetStation comes in. They offer a wide array of soups gifts such as their international sampler that includes gourmet soups from Parisian, Tuscan and Cajun menus. Their most recent food gift offering is a Soup of the Month club for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months….hundreds of years of food culture exquisitely wrapped and delivered every month.

Soups are healhy options. Eating a low-calorie soup before the meal is said to reduce the total calorie intake for meal by 20%. So Soup is a must for weight-watchers. Moreover, what can be better than a bowl of hot soup when one is tired and exhausted or feeling sick? What’s more...it takes less than twenty minutes to make any soup.

Posted by: anamika at Jun 30, 2008 1:16:43 AM

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