Have We Been Eating Soup (And Everything Else) Wrong This Entire Time?
Hot soup blog coming through!
I am a giant soup guy. Soup season for me is 24/7 365 (and a quarter, people forget about that). I have even been known to dabble in the gazpacho game (shoutout Howie). I once did a soup diet for three weeks, only consuming soup, and it was glorious. Zero complaints.
To get to the point. On Token CEO, my very wise coworker PFT (also confirmed huge soup guy) brought up the idea of eating soup after dinner to "fill in the cracks." Not a dessert soup with a sweet flavor profile, but a good chowder or bisque after your main course to get the belly nice and full.
At first I was, of course, shocked by such a claim. Ruining the sanctity of a soup and salad appetizer combo, or the pre-hibachi ritual of a nice miso soup eaten with one of those giant ass spoons perfect for slurping? But, as I sat and continued to think about it, I felt it all becoming clear.
Have you ever heard of that story that goes viral every few months (usually on Facebook) about a teacher who fills a jar with rocks, then asks his class if it is full? They say yes, and he puts in smaller rocks. He asks again if it is full, again they say yes. He then goes on to do the same with sand and water and there is a whole philosophical meaning behind it regarding valuing certain things in your life. I do not care about the philosophical side of this story, but rather the physical.
That jar was super goddamn full before each step, and yet he continued filling. So, what if we applied this similar philosophy to how we eat?
This is my proposed new order of food and drink consumption. A three section, nine course meal, each categorized by the viscosity of the foods consumed, for MAXIMUM fullness.
Stay with me here.
MEAL SECTION ONE: STRICTLY SOLIDS
1. Strictly solid appetizers. Mozz sticks, wings, nachos, salads etc. Perfect for getting a base layer of solid food down. Start to fill the stomach up.
2. Strictly solid entree. Whatever your entree of choice is as long as it is solid. This will add to the previous appetizer layer of foods, filling more but still leaving those valuable openings and cracks in the stomach.
3. Strictly solid desserts. Cake, cookies, brownies, etc. These will satiate your sweet tooth and wrap up the first section of our meal while still leaving valuable room for much, much more.
MEAL SECTION TWO: SEMI-SOLIDS
4. Semi-solid appetizers. Guacamole, salsa, dips, etc. - These semi-solid gelatinous foods will start to fill the gaps left by our solid course.
5. Semi-solid entree. Oatmeal, mashed potatoes, loosely scrambled eggs, purees, baby food, etc. Many of these foods are not typically entrees (although an extra side of mashed potatoes with nearly any meal is elite), but they can be now.
6. Semi-solid desserts. Pudding, jello, flan, milkshakes, etc. As we approach maximum fullness, this dessert layer is an important step. It will fill the cracks we currently have left while still leaving valuable room for the next, and final, section of our meal.
MEAL SECTION THREE: LIQUIDS
7. Liquid appetizers. Here we are, full circle. CUP of soup, smoothie in a glass/cup. The variety in flavor profiles here help because you have variety at this stage to head in either a sweet or savory direction. Totally up to you.
8. Liquid entree. BOWL of soup, smoothie bowl, cereal. The size of soup makes it a meal smoothie bowls are huge and eaten with a spoon, qualifying them for entree status and cereal is a soup of sorts so I figured it belonged here as well.
9. Liquid dessert. Coffee and tea. The perfect cap to ANY meal, especially this one. Filling in the last of the cracks.
I hope some of you will join me on this journey to maximum fullness. Thank you for reading this far.
Oh yeah, if you want to hear PFT on Token CEO talking about soup and much more important things than soup, here is that link: