Soup News from Around the Globe

Welcome to another edition of Soup News from Around the Globe... another in a continuing series of the wild and strange adventures of soup... our tour this week takes us from the heights of high society to the very underbelly of the lowest scurrying elements of civilization...

Our first stop is UK's Guardian, which tells the story of a $20 million soup bowl, a perfect example of Qing Empire porcelain... the managing director of a Chinese petroleum company took the prize home, we assume very carefully. The most appropriate soup to serve in such a bowl, you wonder? Perhaps Mayfair, UK's Kai Restaurant's version of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, for nearly $200 a bowl (not likely on the Soup Peddler menu any time soon). Sea cucumber AND six-hour steamed aged abalone nestled together in a $20 million soup bowl... now you're talking soup.

The world's largest soup pot was just unveiled in Guangdong Province, China... one pot can feed over 5,000 hungry soup eaters.

Another entry in the extreme soup category finds us in New York City, downtown, at Ninja New York, where you can treat yourself and your honey to Meteorite Pot, which is a bit of Japanese clam chowder cooked at the table by an 800 degree Fahrenheit rock submerged in the soup. We wonder what kind of liability policy covers such tableside endeavors...

Lots of cocaine/soup links in recent news... this from SomaliNet, a leader in late-breaking African news... a Ghanaian tribal leader was arrested for smuggling cocaine inside cans of palm soup... while the practice of carrying rare foods on airlines is common for African travelers, somehow Accra International's security found cause to double-check this guys carry-ons... on to Massachusetts, where detectives didn't fall for the old false-bottomed can of Chunky Soup trick, which in this case held 45 bags of individual-sale-ready cocaine.

Sadly, there is never a shortage of soup-related violence to report... the always classy and curiously named Narcisco Bismark Murillo of Miami scalded his girlfriend and her son by throwing hot soup at them... quick-thinking Sharon Osbourne dodged a vicious soup attack after a production of Vagina Monologues in UK... in Fresno, CA, a soup argument was the cause of a drive-by shooting... in Brooklyn, vigilantism apparently lives when a homeless man was killed after throwing hot soup at a woman earlier in the day.

And here are the two show-stoppers for this week's installment... I'm not sure I should share this with you... DO NOT VISIT THE FOLLOWING LINK UNLESS YOU HAVE A VERY STRONG STOMACH. THERE IS A VERY DISTURBING PHOTO ON THE PAGE. IN FACT, BE SURE YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR NEXT WEEK BEFORE LOOKING AT IT. IN FACT, NEVER MIND, IF YOU'RE THAT SICK THAT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS, YOU CAN EMAIL ME FOR THE LINK... a Moscow man murdered an elderly movie director, then made soup with the victim's head and kept the heart in the freezer... and for the all-time forever award for biggest soup-related loser, a Georgia dad poisoned his children's soup in order to extort Campbell's soup in a contamination suit. He is in, as you might expect, what they call deep doo-doo.

Soupie of the Month

Welcome to another edition of the Soupie of the Month Awards... this month's lucky winners are Genoka and Fern Thomassy, who drive in every week all the way from B.F.E., also known as Liberty Hill, Texas. We look forward to their visits every week when we might hear about the latest chicken dilemma or receive fresh, home-laid multicolored eggs... they look like Easter eggs but there's no dye and that's no lie. Genoka’s favorite Soup Peddler dish is Portobello Stroganoff, of which she ordered nine the last offering—they were gone in a week! She is also very protective of The Soup Peddler, defending us against local, vicious Soup Peddler wanabees... read her recent email to a copycat...

...to copy the original is a blatant attempt to use and profit from someone else's ideas without even adding anything new of your own. My teachers used to call that plagiarism and it wasn't allowed because it was wroooong. What you're doing is really TACKY. I wish you the success you deserve.

Ouch! Note to self: Don't cross Genoka. Congratulations, Genoka and Fern, for being our Soupies of the Month!

Much Obliged...

Being a Soupie carries responsibility. It's not just a lackadaisical "me, me, me" sort of thing... for example, you are the recruiting corps for our marketing department, you are the wind beneath our wings, you are obliged to perform soup research when you travel abroad, you are morally bound to steal recipes from family members and unsuspecting chefs to share with the rest of the Soupies. That is how we have such great recipes as our Bouktouf, Asopao, Armenian Apricot, and Green Chile Stew.

The Tarrytown Goetzels, who essentially embody the apogee of the Soupie Mindset, took it upon themselves to travel to Iceland in search of the famed kakosupa, which is on our menu this week, perhaps as a Valentine's Night soup course. Additionally, they often leave still-warm cookies and brownies on their porch for our delivery folks.

In other news, great tragedy has beset the soup world... the inventor of the instant ramen noodle, Momofuku Ando, died last week at age 96. Who says a little deep-fried noodle and MSG is bad for you? He just retired as chairman of Nissin Foods last year, and probably did alright for himself... over 85 billion (that's with a "b", folks) packs of ramen were sold worldwide in 2005 alone.
Another Soupie responsibility... reading assignments. People, I would REALLY love for you to set aside some time to read Michael Pollan's (author of Botany of Desire and Omnivore's Dilemma) article in last Sunday's NY Times Magazine. It has been the most emailed article in the Times all week, which is a really good thing, and it encapsulates our abiding passion in real food, which does not deign to make nutritional health claims. You can read the article here. It's a long article, so settle in.