To think that Soup is a meal?

[StrawberryTraveller]

As in a decent, homemade Minestone soup we are planning to eat tonight

I was merrily chopping ingredients for dinner tonight, when my mother facetime called us.

Mother: oh sorry, didn't mean to disturb you
Me: thats fine, im only chopping ingredients for dinner tonight
Mother: ooh what are you having?
Me: Minestone soup
Mother: what? soup? for dinner?
Me: erm yep, why not? we like Minestone soup
Mother: (still gobsmacked) what, all of you?

And so on and so on for about 5 minutes. Its a Jamie Oliver recipe, with lots of vegetables in, bacon, harricot beans, and pasta. Hearty, and filling after a day of diy and walking.

If I had called it Minestrone casserole, containing the same ingredients, im sure she would have declared in a marvellous idea. Its just because it contained the word 'soup'

So, is 'soup' dinner for you also?

@limitedperiodonly

But this has reminded me. Hearty. I fucking hate the word 'hearty'. It's Mumsnet shorthand for: 'Ooh! I make wholesome things from scratch while lovingly chopping vegetables for my family because I am so wonderful.'

Agree. The OP may have not meant anything, but yeah, there are plenty on here, who love to post stealth boasts about how they 'cook from scratch.' 🙄

Like posters starting a thread that says 'AIBU to give my 7 y.o. child Poached Egg and Avocado Breakfast Salad for breakfast?' Or 'AIBU to give them scrambled egg and salmon, for lunch, with sliced banana for dessert?' 'Or 'AIBU to give them a home-made cook-from-scratch Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta Omelet, with an Italian Quinoa salad for dinner?'

No-one ever comes on here and starts a thread saying 'AIBU to give my kids oven chips and birds eye chicken nuggets for dinner, with a lemon muffin covered in chocolate custard for dessert?' Or 'AIBU to give my 3 y.o 'white bread' toast, covered in butter, and Tesco's own-brand jam for breakfast?' Funny that no-one ever starts threads like that.

Who thought soup could be so annoying.

Why are you surprised? So many people on here would start a war on a desert island!

Soup is lunch or a starter. For all those crying ‘But it’s just a thinner casserole!’ - would you really serve casserole without mash, a jacket or rice? Or without any greens?

Starter or lunch but not a meal

What if the soup has some sort of carbs in it, though, @CoughLaughFart? Something like rice, pasta or chunks of potato - is it a proper dinner then?

@chrisinthesun - hearty means a filling soup with big chunks of veg etc in it - you can get tinned hearty soups - it doesn’t mean ‘Cooked by my own fair hands because I am such a wonderful person’.

It differentiates such soups from lighter, broth type soups or ones that are not intended to be a hearty meal.

Cough I’d definitely eat casserole without carbs. Green veg no but minus rice, pasta or potato? Absolutely.

I don’t think hearty soups are the same as avocado and sun dried tomatoes on quinoa bread because they are what our grannies made and they are cheap and not fine dining in any sense of the world.

Why does anyone need to justify what they are eating? Of course soup is okay especially when homemade or shop bought with extra vegetables.

The OP is a tedious stealth boaster and she has attracted likeminded people.

I would say it's more of a light meal than a full dinner - but for some people with set ideas of how food is - then it's more of a starter.

I think Italians judge it as more of a meal and I think there is a Spanish equivalent where the same is thought and it's more of a stew than a soup. Maybe calling it a stew would help?

Minestrone means 'thick vegetable soup' and would have been the main meal of the day in Roman times.

Sorry - bean stew....

She is not a stealth boaster! It’s fricking soup not caviar canapés.

What if the soup has some sort of carbs in it, though, @CoughLaughFart? Something like rice, pasta or chunks of potato - is it a proper dinner then?

It’s still just soup though, isn’t it? Soup, soup and a bit more soup. If you’re lucky, an extra portion of soup.

Quiche has ‘carbs’. Shepherd’s Pie has ‘carbs’. I still wouldn’t serve it without accompaniment.

chrisinthesun it's just soup, isn't it?

of course it's a meal. For millions of people for hundreds of years it was their default meal. Pottage, innit.

OK @CoughLaughFart - what if it has the same amount of carbs that you’d have in your Shepherd’s Pie meal or your quiche and whatever meal?

If it has all the elements of a meal, in the right amounts and proportions, but with the addition of liquid, why isn’t it a proper dinner?

A hearty soup with fresh crusty bread and a yummy pudding is my idea of a perfect weekday evening meal.

Just soup would be a lunch.

I love minestrone and often make it.

It is a lunch dish or a small bowl as a starter, but not a main dinner meal

I think through time and in many parts of the world, it has had to be the main meal.

For lunch yep. Evening meal? Just feels insufficient but in fairness is probably fine.

Proper home made soup with with lots of veggies, lentils, beans, chorizo/chicken/bacon etc definitely. Tin of Heinz probably not. I might make soup for tomorrow's dinner tomorrow now, mmm left overs for lunches.

We had homemade chicken soup and crusty bread last Thursday for dinner. Of course it’s a proper meal.

That sounds hearty Mrs S, hearty.

Urbanbeetler

Absolutely.

I grew up eating soup for 50% of my meals.

A piece of meat would sometimes be used to make the soup then fished out and sliced with potatoes for a main meal.

My father grew up in a family where the only meal was soup.
A family of 10, the same soup pot was kept for weeks and rarely cleaned out- every day added to- some leeks, some barley, a stolen rabbit, turnips. Served with bannocks or oatcakes.

It is nice to escape poverty.

It’s a starter imo and not a main meal but who cares if you and your family love it