tell me please: what does your soup say about you?

~ jama

 

             soup-7.jpg picture by jamesmargaret3rd

“Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup?
Who soothes you when you are ill? Who refuses to leave you when you are
impoverished and stretches its resources to give you a hearty sustenance
and cheer? Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer?
Yet who is also capable of doing honor to your richest table and impressing
your most demanding guests? . . . Soup does its loyal best, no matter what
undignified conditions are imposed upon it. You don’t catch steak hanging
around when you’re poor and sick, do you?”     ~ Judith Martin

Ah, dear soup, you alone have stuck with me through thick and thin! 

Apparently, lots of other folks feel the same way. Approximately 10 billion bowls of soup are consumed in the U.S. each year, with 57 million gallons slurped up in the month of January alone!

Chances are very good that you’ve already had some soup today, or are planning to. But I’m wondering just what kind. It seems your soup of choice may say a lot about your personality.

Back in 1999, University of Illinois Professor Brian Wansink, who heads the Food and Brand Lab, polled 1000 random Americans about their soup preferences, and then cross-tabulated these results with personality and lifestyle traits. Before I share the delicious details about soup and personality, pick your favorite from these choices:

CHICKEN NOODLE

TOMATO

VEGETABLE

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

MINESTRONE

CHICKEN NOODLE:  Churchgoer, loyal, relaxed, homebody, likes hobbies like quilting
or photography, loves daytime talk shows, fond of pets, likely to be stubborn, less likely to be outdoorsy.

TOMATO:  Affectionate, fond of pets, sociable, adventurous, book lover, creative (in and out of the kitchen). 

VEGETABLE:  Homebody, gardener, reader of family and home magazines, less likely to be spontaneous, love dessert, but nutrition conscious, likes to cook.

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER:  Sophisticated, intellectual, cynical, introspective, thoughtful, self-indulgent when it comes to food, sarcastic, rarely cooks from scratch.

MINESTRONE:  Physically fit, nutritionally conscious, family spirited, unlikely to own a pet, love outdoor life, often dieting.
 
                                       TOP RANKING SOUPS!
  
               Tomato                          Minnestrone                     Chicken Noodle

Soup habits also reflect childhood memories, as we tend to seek the same type of comfort today that gave us solace when we were young. More than half of Wansink’s interviewees said that chicken noodle soup made them feel better when they were sick, and two thirds said soup was relaxing.

How did I fare in this seemingly-scientific-but-could-be-anybody’s-guess survey?

                                             MY SOUP PROFILE

 
             Vegetable                           Tomato                       Clam Chowder

Well, vegetable soup (with alphabets, naturally), is my favorite. Everything rings true, but I don’t like to garden. Since I also love books and have my moments of introspection, the occasional tomato or clam chowder should be added to my menu.

Now, I really want to know about you. Is any of it true? Do you think there’s one specific soup most preferred by writerly types?
  

(Resources: Pat Solley, e-Soupsong 42: October 1, 2003; Mark Reutter, UIUC News Bureau, 12/00.)

38 thoughts on “tell me please: what does your soup say about you?”

  1. Well, I am a tomato soup person all the way! Always have been! Tomato soup – alone or with anything! And the profile fits me to a “T”! 🙂

    Like

  3. Soup Survey
    I am a clam chowder lover. The last line about rarely cooking from scratch is true and I can be quite cynical. Nothing cuts through a foggy day like clam chowder.

    Like

  5. Maybe not THAT adventurous – but does moving cross-country twice (without a job at the other end) count? Then there was my Chicago to San Francisco trip in the ’60s… And, I’m the person who always says, “What if we take that road? I wonder where it will go.”
    As far as the rest of the description: I’m very affectionate, quite the hugger – I have seven pets! – I love to have friends over – not only do I write, but I read everything! – and I love to do creative things – funny, I used to have a local cable cooking show – vegan cooking – called… “Cooking with The Other Julia.” I did the whole thing, from planning, cooking, video-taping, editing, etc.
    So – wow – I’m a dyed in the wool tomato soup kind of gal!

    Like

  9. Re: say it: CHOWDA!
    I think chowder and heavy Euro-style beer is just the fuel that feeds the furnace of us uptight Pilgrims. Throw in long cold winters (well, at least ‘once upon a time’) and that’s bound to make anyone sarcastic and cynical.
    Like a bear who’s not allowed to hibernate!

    Like

  10. hmmm…my favorite soup is creamy chicken tortilla with tomato base and a couple of veggies thrown in. So that means I’ve got it all going on, huh? With an international flair, of course! 🙂

    Like

  12. I’m a total soup lover. I eat it most days, so I guess I’m a mutt of all these things. Except I’ve never tried clam chowder. It scares me. Kind of like sophistication, I guess. Ha!

    Like

  15. Thanks for the link! Totally incredible artwork. Reminds me of the book, Play With Your food, only on a much larger scale.
    Tomato soup for you? It does make perfect sense. You strike me as being very confident, energetic, even fearless. Now I know the secret of your success!

    Like

  16. Well, I love clam chowder, but I rarely have it at home, because I’m picky about it and don’t like most of the versions that come in cans.
    I also love tomato soup, but I always doctor it with chunks of avocado, or sometimes, goldfish crackers.
    And where is the lentil soup??? Or Thai coconut? Or butternut squash? Or chicken with wild rice?

    Like

  17. I’ve never met anyone scared of clams before. Are you seafood phobic? Or is it the shells snapping at you?
    Since you don’t have any one favorite, I’d say you’re probably a very diplomatic type. Either that, or wishy washy :)!

    Like

  18. I can’t believe how many people are into tomato soup! I mean, where’s the texture? The little bumpy veggies or noodles?
    The affectionate part definitely suits you to a “T.” But you’ve disproved Wansink’s theory about tomato soup lovers being especially willing to try new and exotic soups.
    I do remember your brave sushi foray back in the fall. So maybe there’s hope for you yet!

    Like

  20. LOL! You remind me of Sally in “When Harry Met Sally!” All of this tells me you are HIGH MAINTENANCE!
    As for all those other varieties, I doubt Professor Wansink has heard of them. But you could always go to Illinois and ask him.

    Like

  21. Confession: I don’t really like soup. It fill me up too much so I can’t eat the rest of dinner.
    If I had to choose one of these it would be chicken noodle, for when I’m sick. The personality description is only about half right.
    What I really like, in small doses, is chicken corn soup at a Chinese restaurant. Or chicken matzoh ball soup (only a bit) at Passover. Maybe a minestrone if there isn’t a tomato base.

    Like

  30. I confess that my favorite tomato soup is store bought… it’s the Campbells Creamy Tomato Parmesan Bisque or something like that…it comes in a carton. Anyway, it has tomato chunks in it…YUM. I have tried and tried and tried to make homeade tomato soup and it’s always gritty. I gave up.

    Like

  32. My favorite is bean with bacon. My second favorite is chicken noodle. Only so much of that fits me though.
    CHICKEN NOODLE: Churchgoer, loyal, relaxed, homebody, likes hobbies like quilting
    or photography, loves daytime talk shows, fond of pets, likely to be stubborn, less likely to be outdoorsy. I’m pretty outdoorsy.

    Like

  33. Very interesting. Your second favorite is chicken noodle, and only half of those traits apply. Would be interesting to know what the bean and bacon traits are — to learn about the other half of you!

    Like

Comments are closed.