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

Soup and bread is fine and tasty. For guests I'd have some meat, cheese and salad out for anyone who fancies some in addition to the soup; it doesn't need to be complicated to prep and makes it all look more substantial. I'd skip dessert for lunch though.

Would love soup for lunch but I wouldn’t expect it for dinner, as others have said it always seems more of a starter. If you’ve been invited round specifically for dinner that is.

I don’t think it would be “embarrassing” either way though as you’ve made the effort still.

@pollyglot thank you so much

This is just what I'm looking for. Have some sweet potatoes need eating and they are so good for you!

As a vegetable grower in cold UK I'm so jealous of your productive garden 😍

I did @sashh. Pasta e fagioli - a very substantial tomato, pasta and bean soup. Not a soup that you can drink, but very definitely one you need a spoon for.

I'm glad you settled the argument OP

Guess what I had for lunch yesterday?

Leek soup with home made bread. Hands up anyone else who made soup because of this thread.

My favourite food. Especially homemade and with bread. I’d be happy for dinner even though might feel a salad and afters even nicer afterwards. When I was a child lunch was the main meal and evening was high tea. I’d now find a cooked dinner midday too heavy. But isn’t the Mediterranean tradition to siesta afterwards? Yes he obviously should host his own guests and therefore Choose what he would think they’d expect. Embarrassed is a silly reaction imo.

Interesting topic.
I think it is a matter of culture but also context.
For a last minute lunch offer, maybe after a walk or some activity, I could consider offering a thick soup for lunch, in cold days. But I would probably try to make it a bit special and add good starters.
For a planned lunch or dinner typically I would go overboard, starters, first and second, one of which substantial. I encourage guests to skip whatever they might not like.
I am a Mediterranean husband, my wife is Asian, so we can offer variety.
If I think that a dish is not enough, I will volunteer to cook something extra without criticizing, and she does the same when I am cooking.
There are ways to keep it low effort beyond doing just soups. For instance, Bolognese freezes just fine, I make large batches, so I can whisk up a very decent pasta in 30 minutes while drinking a glass of wine and chatting with the guests. Seafood sauces can be frozen too, and a dash of white wine and some parsley will liven them up considerably with little effort.
In the end soups can taste a bit samey as a single dish. So it is a risky shot unless your guests happen to love what you came up with.

I would be delighted but then I love soup even more so with with nice bakery or homemade bread and butter

My DH and a fair few friends are Mediterranean/East European and they all seem to have very strict rules around what is and isn't a soup and how and when it should be served

Class has about as much to do with the topic as bum fluff imo.

If I dropped round at a friends or was invited for a casual supper, I'd be pleased with a hearty soup and bread. Frankly, I'd be happy with someone taking the time and making the effort to cook for me. I come from a pretty working class background, so maybe that impacts my feelings on the matter, not sure.

YANBU - however my heart would sink into my boots if you served me soup, as I am a self-conscious eater and find soup very difficult to eat without at least some mess - either I get food stains around my mouth, or a dribble down my chin, or it drips onto the tablecloth between bowl and mouth!

You do know that the OP actively asked for opinions, right?

Oh dear. Did this sound better in your head?

OK...I'm coming from this from a VERY "USA, Southern Girl" position. We're quite specific on what we call meals other than breakfast. "Dinner" refers to the larger, heavier meal of the day, whether is it served midday or evening. The lighter meal at midday is called lunch, with dinner in the evening. The heavier meal at midday is called dinner, with supper in the evening.

Given that, soup (with plenty of bread and butter, and/or maybe a salad) would be perfectly acceptable for lunch, if you specified a "light lunch" for those who may not be familiar with the nomenclature. IF you said "dinner," no matter which time of day, you'd better come up with something more substantial than soup, no matter how good it might be.

Eh? I’ve had soup and sandwiches dozens of times.

I mean if you are grasping for the ladle every time a guest visits, I would say it’s a bit OTT.

Depends on what mood I’m in. Soup isn’t go everyone’s taste but I wouldn’t judge you if that was what you’d made.
As others have said- presumably not for dinner.

Soup is ok for an informal lunch at home. Nice bread. Cheese after and some wine if you want to be a bit more generous. Soup in the evening, at dinner, is a starter, not the main meal. I would feel very odd about it if I were asked to dinner and got soup and bread followed by cheese. I'd wonder why I had been invited. Dinner - soup as a starter, main course, dessert, cheese board, and coffee (or tea if preferred) to finish. Soup, followed by nothing more than a pudding, for dinner guests (who will expect a proper meal) is a bit off. Do you get many return dinner invitations? If so, do they amount to soup and pud?

It would be for me . I love homemade soups and nice bread . I like making soups too !

I eat what I'm given as a guest 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. I would be happier with a nice soup and bread than chicken prepared in a way I didn't particularly like.

Sounds fabulous @pollyglot.

Rampantivy

Sub-tropical Far North of New Zealand. Everything grows here, even without being planted. In my garden, I have fruit trees ranging from Bramley apples to figs, bananas, limes, grapes, passionfruit, oranges, lemons, guavas, pawpaws. It's absolute paradise.

i wonder if the issue here that many Mediterranean cultures make lunch the main meal of the day and have a light supper. I think soup is fine as the ‘lighter’ dish ie lunch or light supposed but your husband is maybe thinking the entertaining is for the ‘main meal’.

That recips sounds delicious @pollyglot.
Where do you live that you call sweet potato kumara, and grow it in your garden?