National Soup Month
In January, people celebrate National Soup Month, where soup-lovers throw a winter soup party throughout the month. According to National Today, the tradition of National Soup month is that they prepare their homestyle soup dishes and share them with their families and friends. It’s a day filled with laughter and, of course, bowls of delicious soups!
Soup, a bowl of a hot or cold-served liquid filled with a mix of vegetables, meat, carbohydrates, or regional spices, is one of the world’s most historic and nutritious dishes. In 1765, the first Parisian soup store was opened to sell soups as an antidote to physical exhaustion. With the traditions and creativity developed from different cultures, soups aren’t just dishes that hydrate your body, but nutritious cuisines to enjoy daily and for special occasions.
If you are a fan of soup, you have probably tried multiple soup dishes from different cultures. Places all over the world have their own kind of soups. They integrate their traditions into the soup, making it distinctive from other cultures. In America, a melting pot of cultures, you can easily locate different soup restaurants in your community. These include soups from Japanese, Korean, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Spanish, and many more. To explore a variety of soup dishes, I’ve interviewed three amazing people from different cultural backgrounds.
Soups From the Philippines
Gabriella Sofia Ofina, a Filipino student studying at Spring Valley High School, excitedly shared one of her hometown soups. “Sinigang, which is a soup with a sour and savory taste, is considered a national dish in the Philippines, as it is cooked almost every day,” she said. “It’s always present whenever there’s an occasion such as birthdays, anniversaries, and baptisms.”
According to Paniasang Pinoy, a Filipino food blog, the Sinigang soup recipe uses meat and seafood as the main ingredients. The soup often contains beef, chicken, shrimp, and fish and includes lots of protein and nutrients.
Ofina recalls her memory of drinking Sinigang when she was young, “Whenever I smell the savory taste of Sinigang, the times living in the Philippines pop into my mind,” she said. “It is the taste of my homeplace.”
Another local soup in the Philippines is chicken soup, Ofina’s favorite. “The soup has tiny pieces of chicken and macaroni in it, and I really like them together. It [also] contains various vegetables, so it’s healthy; that’s why it is my favorite,” she said. “The dish is usually cooked during the cold weather, breakfast, and is served to sick people. [It’s] definitely a refresher.”
Soups in Japan
Alexis Fusako Tolentino, a mixed Japanese college student, never gets tired of drinking Japanese soups. When asked about one traditional Japanese soup she would recommend, she said, “In Japanese culture, a soup we have is called Ozoni, and we usually eat it on New Year’s Day.”
In Japan, every family has their own recipe of Ozoni, but it always consists of chewy pieces of mochi. According to Serious Eats, the primary purpose of drinking a hot-served Ozoni is to herald the start of the year. “Ozoni is to bring good luck for the new year, and the things you put into it represent different luck to bring,” Tolentino said. “Mochi is for longevity, local vegetables for good harvest, fish eggs for fertility, lotus root for the wheel of life.”
When asked about her favorite soup in Japanese culture, Tolentino said, “Miso soup will always be my favorite. It’s so easy and quick to make. I can make a lot and have it for the rest of the week.”
Miso soup sounds familiar to most of us because it’s always on the menu at Japanese restaurants. The main ingredient is Miso, a nutrition-rich soybean fermented food. It has been an indispensable seasoning for the Japanese for more than 1,300 years. Japanese people drink Miso soup before or after a meal as they believe Miso strengthens the immune system.
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Soups in Mexico
Ivan Arrieta, an American-born Mexican, knows a lot of traditional Mexican soups from his parents. “Although I was born in the states, my parents still keep making traditional Mexican soup dishes during family gatherings,” he said. “Menudo Soup is probably the most popular Mexican soup. It’s a very simple dish that also claims to cure hangovers.”
The main ingredients of Menudo are beef tripe, onion, and red chili pepper. It requires boiling for four to seven hours to fully extract the taste of beef. Once prepared, hominy is added to enrich the dish’s texture.
Apart from Menudo, Arrieta also enjoys drinking Albondigas Soup. “It’s my favorite soup because my mom would always make it,” he said. “It’s also a simple soup with meatballs, white rice, and vegetables. I like it before a workout since it’s so high in calories.”
Soup: A Dish Served With Love and Warmth
Imagine going home after an exhausting day of work, drinking a bowl of hot-served chicken soup prepared by your mum. No matter which place you are from, soup undoubtedly provides you with satisfaction from taste and the rejuvenation of the mind. But perhaps the most precious part of the soup is the time of a family sitting around together sipping on bowls of soup filled with nutrients and love.
