Is my husband right to be embarrassed when I serve soup for lunch to guests

A homemade soup can be amazing. I would do homemade soup as a lunch, served with a plantbased cheese toastie to dip in it, and maybe som houmous somewhere involved 😋

I love making soups full of flavour and interesting veggie protein.

My kids' fav meal is my homemade tomato soup with pasta and lentils in it, crusty hot bread to dip in.

I wouldn't serve soup as a tea time meal to guests, though. It's a lunch meal and a substantial one if done well.

I've bought loads of parsnip to make spicy parsnip soup as a starter today, followed by spiced roast califower with tahini sauce and chermoula on a bed of houmous. Can't wait for lunch 😋

Almost all of my eating with friends, whether hosting or hosted, is sharing our usual family meals. Good healthy food, great conversation, being part of each others lives. Very few fancy dinner parties, with strangers meeting, where the host puts on a show, and everyone pretends to be something they're not.

So your idea of a dinner party is not just a more formal meal with a bunch of friends - as in a restaurant - but an event at which “everyone pretends to be something they’re not”. You know it’s not a murder mystery party right? 🤔

No I hate soup, I see it as something people eat when dieting or when sick. I wouldnt like to be given that as the only option. I cant really tolerate huge liquidy meals to be honest so it would make me sicky

I am a bit on the fence with this.
Soup + bread ( home made or bought) would be fine for a very light informal lunch but I would let my guests know in advance so they are not expecting a more substantial meal .

A more formal lunch or dinner it would be a starter with a more carb heavy main course .

Interesting references to guests. I wonder if various TV reality shows have changed expectations of what normal hospitality should look like. I think some of us are talking about different events.

Almost all of my eating with friends, whether hosting or hosted, is sharing our usual family meals. Good healthy food, great conversation, being part of each others lives. Very few fancy dinner parties, with strangers meeting, where the host puts on a show, and everyone pretends to be something they're not.

For a light lunch it's fine and I would be very happy to eat it. Not for a main meal though. No real explanation as to why though. At least not in a nutritional sense. It just doesn't feel at all special or substantial enough for guests.

Sounds delicious. Nothing nicer than homemade soup!

Depends on the soup: if it’s hearty, then great as a meal, but if it’s lighter, then only as a starter.
Hearty soups IMHO are chowders, leek and potato, pea and ham and gulaschsuppe (more stew-like) Etc.
Lighter would be gazpacho, consommé, minestrone, tomato, vegetable, chicken noodle, French onion Etc.
However, if you are able to make them hearty enough by adding extra meat or vegetables and home-made croutons, bread or cheese, then that’s good enough!

Soup needn't be thin and watery. I would be embarrassed to serve such a soup. I wouldn't serve it at dinner, but I would for an informal lunch. A thick chunky soup is very filling, especially If served with crusty bread and a selection of cheeses and/or meats.

A watery soup isn't a decent soup though

And it's clear that whilst some people think soup is insufficient effort to show your guests, plenty of people don't know how to make a decent bone watery filing soup !

I would never serve soup to guests as a meal , unless it was as a starter. I just don't feel it's substantial enough.

I'm with your husband - sorry OP. I'd find soup very disappointing as a guest. To me, soup is a starter, diet food or a quick meal when you are time-pressured.

I am not a soup fan, would never choose it in a restaurant.

But for lunch with loads of bread, fine. Not for dinner or your main meal whether you have it in the evening or middle of the day.

Sounds lovely to me! Being able to make tasty and nutritious soups which are a meal in themselves is an art form. Soup is a commonplace and appreciated meal where I am, for lunch or supper, and tend to be as thick as stews. I can't stand the thin, clear watery variety though.

I am (possibly unfairly) picturing your husband as a 'meat and potatoes and must I eat the veg' man, and rolling my eyes.

I wouldn’t be a fan

It’s such a low effort meal (especially if brought straight out the freezer) that it does feel very “I can’t be bothered”. That may be ok if it’s a very informal lunch I.E. someone has popped by unexpectedly but if it’s an invited lunch then I would be underwhelmed. Soup doesn’t fill me up so would be hungry again not that long after

Never great for an invited dinner though

However you DH could support in the kitchen if he feels that strongly about it

But have you heard of its lid of a cheesy crouton?

I'm slightly with your husband on this. But it depends on what your friend's serve you when they reciprocate?

We had some (not terribly close) work friends of my DH who we had done a couple of casual Saturday lunches with. We would (both) typically do something like salmon and new potatoes, lasagne and salad, or curry etc. We were invited back when we'd just had our first baby (2 weeks old maybe). We were knackered, hadn't eaten properly so were really looking forward to getting a nice homecooked meal. We were served homemade soup and breads (and have clearly never forgotten it!). I'm sure it was very nice soup, and presumably with the addition of the bread will have filled us up, but it was really disappointing because we had expected something a bit 'more'.

Having said that, in the same period of time (first/second week of birth) we invited a couple (brand new NCT friends) over for lunch, meet each other's babies etc, and served them toasted sandwiches and bag salad! They turned up with a nice bottle of wine and a posh box of chocolates so I imagine they were equally disappointed. We'd just misjudged it in our knackered state.

Although soup can be very filling, it is also a way of using up leftovers. Bread is also a way of filling people up, when more expensive protein-rich food is scarce.. You could argue that both are peasant/poverty food - even if delicious and prepared with skill

I think the point is that when having guests over it seems polite - as a way of demonstrating that you value them - to make something 'special' from food that has been bought in to mark occasion.

So, as with most people, I'd say that soup and bread is great for lunch., but not so great for supper.

I'd much prefer soup and nice bread to most meals. Sounds great for lunch to me. In fact dinner also. I am your ideal guest in that department.

I'd be delighted with soup as a lunch or starter for dinner. Home made even better.

Not necessarily.

A watery soup just makes me need to pee and doesn't really fill me up, and bread, while filling at the time, always leaves me absolutely starving a few hours later 🙈

I also find I can't eat a lot of soup as it's really liquidy and too much of it makes me feel a bit nauseous but I suspect that's just me

I wouldn’t serve to guests as I find as you can see from this thread most people only like certain sorts of soup. Having cheese, meats, salad and pickles balances it out as you can have a small bowl of you don’t like it. I would also serve quite a heavy pudding as well.

May be me but I stop eating soup as soon as spring appears and start again in late September. Other than gazpacho.

Surely the filling capability's of soup and bread relate to the quantity served ?

One small
Bowl and a slice of bread - no

A come and come again pot and large loaf - yes

I’m not sure anyone actually said soup was awful ? Also I am fairly positive most folks know what soup is.

what’s being said is when you invite people round for dinner, generally just serving your guests a bowl of soup and some bread and a pudding to follow isn’t what most folks would consider good etiquette/