Food for Thought: What Makes Soup Soup?

Recently, during a lecture in a philosophy class I’m taking about the ethics of war, my professor showed us a video about what makes soup soup. “Why isn’t ketchup soup?” “Why isn’t gravy soup?” This rocked my world, you could say. Naturally, I shared the troubling question with friends and family, strangers and neighbours. And, also naturally, I’m sharing it with you. 

I interviewed five friends on the topic and decided to share it with the people (you, Her Campus reader). *Insert Penelope Featherington saying, “Dearest gentle reader.”* Summarizing all the opinions I received was difficult, so I’ll include the highlights. 

My first follow-up question was the classic: “Is ketchup soup? Yes or no, and why?” Four out of five participants said no, ketchup is not soup; it is a condiment. Participant One said condiments aren’t eaten with a spoon, and even if someone were to do so, it remains a condiment because it has always been a condiment. Participant Four said ketchup is not soup, but almost reneged because tomato soup exists. They landed on ketchup not being soup, yet declared that it doesn’t have to do with thickness. Confusing. 

All five people each listed various things that are and are not soup. The following things are soup in one or another participant’s mind: stew, ramen, some tomato soup mixed with some ketchup, gazpacho, and clam chowder. The more convoluted foods were cereal and smoothies. Cereal can be soup, but soup isn’t a cereal, said Participant One, and almost all others agreed that cereal isn’t soup. Porridge is not soup, according to participant Two. 

The underlying theme of all the soup conversations I had was that soup is a social construct. If I were to offer you a bowl with 80% saltine crackers and 20% tomato soup, it’s still a bowl of soup. There’s no physical characteristic that defines whether something is soup or not. Participant One said, “Curry is basically soup, but it is not soup, it’s curry.” What does that mean for answering this question? I don’t know. Participants Four and Five agreed that curry is a distant relative of soup, but not the same. Participant Two declared that what defines soup is how you consume it and that perhaps it must have a certain percentage of liquid. Participant One wondered if maybe soup requires a boiling point, but aren’t there cold soups? Just because you blend pesto and soup does not make them smoothies, Participant Two said, though Participant Three said that all soup is a smoothie. Participant One said, “All smoothies are soups, but not all soups are smoothies.” My conversation with Participant One landed on a central point: a caveman wouldn’t know what soup was, and they surely wouldn’t know what was soup or not soup, if no one told them so. Soup isn’t soup until someone says it is. 

If you couldn’t already tell, I think soup is traditionally boiled and served warm (with some exceptions of cold soups), medium to thin consistency, and eaten by the average person in bowl-full quantities.

It has become clear to me that soup, like many things in life, is what you make it. As Participant Two said, “quit pulling my leg,” and Participant Four said, “soup is a silly social construct.” It appears to me that soup is in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder must be prepared for ridicule. There’s no concrete answer here, as I am sure you could have guessed. While I’d love to provide one, I cannot. 

Thanks to my friends for helping me ponder this one, and I promise you won’t end up like the guy in the video. It was soup(er) talking with you all. As Participant Five said, “But the best way to determine if it’s soup or not is if there is chicken and noodles.” 

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