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

[MusicLass]

This is a bit of a long-running joke in our house, but underpinned by genuine feelings…

i like making soups from scratch (E.g vegetable, lentil, minestrone) and try to make them tasty, nutritious and filling. For some visitors I make soups for lunch or dinner, for the same reasons above, plus I can make them in advance and just reheat giving me more time to be attentive to guests. I also either bake or buy nice bread and butter to go with the soup. Something for pudding would be offered too.

DH gets embarrassed when I serve soup to guests, saying it’s not proper food and it’s not being hospitable. He would expect a pasta or rice dish round someone’s house, or meat.

He happily eats soup when it’s just us as a family.

AIBU to serve soup to guests? Or is he right? Generally he is more sensitive about social etiquette than me. He’s also from a Mediterranean culture, which could be a factor here.

Thanks for reading and helping us to settle this!

For lunch as a meal with fresh bread yes it's fine. I'd definitely judge you if you invited me to dinner and I only got soup though.

Ffs. This site is jumping all over the place. In my culture soup is very much a lunch food. Plfor guests you pimp it out with fresh bread, fancy butter. Maybe some extras to the soup cheese/parsley oil or whatever goes with it. Defo a good thing to serve!

I'd expect soup to be a starter and followed by something else.

For a light lunch it would be fine, if you had a cheese board to go with it and maybe some hummus. But not for dinner. Only as a starter. I like soup but I would be a bit disappointed if I was invited for dinner and got soup and bread.

Not in my case, you and another poster are assuming we who dont like soup are talking about thin or thinner soups. Im not, I dont like soup of any kind, I will eat it under sufferance but I dont like liquid foods and foods that are half liquid half solid are even worse.

I have in the past made an exception for cullen skink, while in Scotland but thats my limit.

Soup and hummus?!!

Me too!
I now feel like a horrible person because my family gets fed soup and rolls for a whole meal, with salad if they wish. Perhaps because my soup ends up being very thick and stew like, it fills everyone up just fine. If I am eating at someone else's home, I am happy just to be able to not be the one cooking and will love pretty much anything served. I was going to say "anything served I would like; until I remembered that I watch "Chopped" (US cooking show) and they have used some things I don't think I could get through. Cow eyes, intestines, stomach, goat heads.......😳😬😱

As a starter or lunch, it would be ok. Not otherwise.

Who are the guests & what's the context?

If I was invited specifically for lunch than I'd probably be expecting something more.

If I happened to be there & asked to stay for lunch then whatever is being served.

I'd be disappointed with a soup lunch.

What part does your DH play in planning & prep for the guests, OP?

If you have equal roles (rolls - hahahaha!) including tidying, etc, then I think you should make something you both agree on.

If you do all the planning, prep and tidying, then you choose what you want!

Soup is perfect for lunch, I’d be very happy to be served that. If your husband has an issue, perhaps he can cook.

I have done soup and nice bread and cheese/hummus/salad for a friend coming for a casual lunch but not for dinner.
I appreciate minestrone can be a meal in itself so therefore fine for lunch, but not enough at dinner if that’s your main meal.

So you don't like casseroles, curries, dahl or any other similar textured foods either @bellac? Or gravy on your roast or with sausage and mash?

I'm not a soup fan so wouldn't be keen. A soup could be okay for a lunch, I would be surprised to be served it as the main at dinner.

Soup for lunch is perfect. For dinner I would have it as a starter and then a proper meal.

Well I’d be disappointed because I really
don’t like soup (I would eat it but I’d not enjoy it at all), but I’m presumably there for your company so it wouldn’t ruin my day!!
I’d presume you weren’t confident in the kitchen as soup is very low effort and mostly a low cost way of using up leftovers.
We’ve never had anyone round for lunch and served up soup and bread, nor have we been invited anywhere and served the same.

TBH I prefer to eat my main meal in the evening and am not a fan of substantial lunches.

https://skinnyspatula.com/salmon-soup-lohikeitto/

Creamy salmon soup is my fave if anyone us looking for new soup ideas.

Some of these responses are actually irrelevant to the 'is soup an acceptable thing to serve?' question imo.

'No it's awful' - this is just an individual taste response and could apply to any dish. Some people think pasta is awful or roasts are awful.

'Maybe the OP doesn't make good soup' - again, this could apply to any dish.

'The English don't make good soup' - just not enough eye rolls for this one.

I love soup and make some fantastic ones. I'd serve it to guests for lunch with other stuff, but probably not for dinner.

Yes I make all of those very thick and dry, dont like runny ness. I never have gravy.

Love a soup lunch! If guests involved I'd toast a bunch of pitta, slice into smaller bits, shove a couple of tubs of hummus into a bowl with topping of pesto and olive oil, jar of roasted peppers on a plate, another dippy thing like aubergine or tzatziki, an easy salad bowl and a few bits of cheese. It's a meal in my opinion and guests appreciate the simplicity.

I’d presume you weren’t confident in the kitchen as soup is very low effort and mostly a low cost way of using up leftovers.

Nonsense. There are millions of recipes for soup. They call for specific ingredients, not leftovers. Chefs make soup in top restaurants. Do you think they are lacking confidence in the kitchen?

That's not a soup lunch then? It's some sort of dip based meal with soup.

No I think that’s a fair assumption. There are some very complicated soups, but OP refers to vegetable and lentil soups which are piss easy to make.