You get soup! You get soup! Everybody gets soup!
The days are getting shorter, and the air is cool. This can only mean one thing… soup season! The warm, fuzzy vibes are soup-er important to kicking off the school year right.
While sticking to the same broccoli and cheddar soup from Panera seems tempting, there is a whole world of soups to discover. This fall, I’m on a mission to expand my soup circle.
I talked to students about their favourite cultural soup. And let me tell you this, my soup roster definitely grew. And yours probably will too.
Encebollado
First-year business student Isabel Heredia-Delgado is from Ecuador, and her favourite cultural soup is encebollado.
“It’s a thick broth. Fish, tomato, onions, potato. That’s pretty much it,” she explained.
But other recipes I saw also call for peppers or avocados. There are a lot of variations in the toppings and broth base, but in all recipes, the basics come down to fish and onions.
This soup is perfect for any time of day. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. And with the chilly weather fast approaching, no one’s judging you for wanting a bowl of steaming encebollado at 9 a.m.
Encebollado is traditionally not spicy, but you can add hot sauce to spice it up. So when it comes to zhuzhing up a simple bowl of soup, some handy dandy hot sauce always comes in clutch.
Trinidad Corn Soup
For Zain Tardieu, a first-year kinesiology student, his favourite cultural soup is Trinidad corn soup. This soup obviously has corn, but it also has split peas and lentils with a base of warm chicken broth. Basically a warm hug in a bowl.
This dish is very vegetable-heavy. In fact, some of the recipes I’ve seen are vegetarian and start with a base of vegetable broth. So if you don’t have meat in your diet, this is the perfect cozy soup to obsess over this fall.
When it comes to customizing a bowl of soup, he likes to stick to the basics.
“I would probably add noodles,” Tardieu laughed, “even just chicken noodle soup is just good enough for me.”
Korean Kimchi Stew
Hannah is in her first year of business administration. Growing up, she remembers her mom often making kimchi stew, and even now it’s made once a week in her home.
“It’s easy to make. It’s very good. It’s very comforting; it’s very warm and has protein,” she said.
The most important ingredients in kimchi stew are tofu, a source of protein, soy sauce, and, most importantly, kimchi. So, depending on the ingredients, you can make your kimchi stew high in protein. Perfect for hitting your daily protein goal.
When it comes to customization for any stew or soup, Hannah’s go-to ingredient is kimchi. Simply adding kimchi to a simple bowl of soup can help add a bit of spice and flavour.
“I grew up having a lot of Korean stews,” Hannah explained, “so spicy soups are something that I would go for.”
Did Somebody say Soupbar?
Yes! You heard it right, folks. The Soupbar is re-opening!
Did reading this make you hungry? Well, fear not! Starting Sept. 21, you can grab free soup and customize it to your culture.
IGNITE also offers frozen soup that you can grab and go and customize at home. At the end of a long day of trying not to fall asleep, the perfect way to end your day is remembering the frozen soup you grabbed. Warm it up, maybe add some hot sauce and kimchi and enjoy.
So, bring your favourite toppings and sauces because soup season has officially begun.
Locations:
Hot Soup
North campus – LinX (Room 110).
Monday – Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Frozen Soup
North campus – Student Centre
Lakeshore campus – L Commons (2nd floor, next to the elevators).
Downtown campus- 5th floor, room 503.
Feature photo by IGNITE
Curious about what sides go soup-er with soup? Read 4 perfect side dishes to serve with soup
