Soup Quotes

“If you don't explain it all to me, I might strangle somebody." Of course, Raphael might like that...”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Burns

“One bachelor is an irritation. Ten thousand bachelors are a war.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender in Exile

“That bowl of soup—it was dearer than freedom, dearer than life itself, past, present, and future.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

“Slotted spoons don't hold much soup...”
― Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods

“Writing is a lot like making soup. My subconscious cooks the idea, but I have to sit down at the computer to pour it out.”
― Robin Wells

“Anyone who tells a lie has not pure heart, and cannot make good soup.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven

“Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake.”
― Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear

“Yeah. I'm the fly in the soup. I don't like it any better than you do. Flies don't like being swamped in soup, especially when it's hot.”
― Rex Stout, Champagne for One

“Curiosity is a good thing, like onion soup. But too much onion soup makes your breath smell terrible. And too much curiosity can make your whole body smell terrible, if it causes you to be dead. ”
― Michael Reisman, Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper

“Have you ever been struck by a sudden desire for - soup?”
― Aristophanes, The Frogs

“There must be some kind of internal time distortion effect in here, because when I look at myself in the little mirror above my sink, what I see is my father's face, my face turning into his. I am beginning to feel how the man looked, especially how he looked on those nights he came home so tired he couldn't even make it through dinner without nodding off, sitting there with his bowl of soup cooling in front of him, a rich pork-and-winter-melon-saturated broth that, moment by moment, was losing - or giving up - its tiny quantum of heat into the vast average temperature of the universe.”
― Charles Yu, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

“Mrs. Porter was from Virginia and had a smooth-as-cat-fur way of speaking. She taught me how to say, “Fiddle-Dee-Dee,” just like Scarlett O’Hara and she made her split-pea soup with bacon and even let me try on her lipstick sometimes as she teased up my hair in the same sixties style she wore, “Ala Pricilla Presley,” whoever that was.”
― Shannon Celebi, 1:32 P.M.

“The Soup and the Clouds

My dear little mad beloved was serving my dinner, and I was looking out of the open dining room window contemplating those moving architectural marvels that God constructs out of mist, edifices of the impalpable. And as I looked I was saying to myself: “All those phantasmagoria are almost as beautiful as my beloved’s beautiful eyes, as the green eyes of my mad monstrous little beloved.”

All of a sudden I felt a terrible blow of a fist on my back and heard a husky and charming voice, an hysterical voice, a hoarse brandy voice, the voice of my dear little beloved, saying: “Aren’t you ever going to eat your soup, you damned bastard of a cloud-monger?”
― Charles Baudelaire, Paris Spleen

“Ducks make the best soup. Campbell’s used to, but Joseph A. Campbell died on March 27th, 1900, and the FoodDrink that comes in their cans now tastes like a cemetery.”
― Jarod Kintz, Duck Quotes For The Ages. Specifically ages 18-81.

“When we were kids, getting your mouth washed out with soap was punishment. But today, I’m selling duck-soup-flavored soap that your own kids will beg to have for dinner, which you’ll eat under a waterfall for maximum bubbles.”
― Jarod Kintz, Music is fluid, and my saxophone overflows when my ducks slosh in the sounds I make in elevators.

“In pretty much every country in the world, something hot and brothy cooked in a pot and served in a bowl is viewed as uniquely nourishing. Soup places low demands on the eater. It treats you as a child, who may or may not know how to use a knife and fork. You do not have to chop, or even to chew. Soup is what our mothers gave us when we were ailing. It’s what we return to after a hard day at work, when all we want to do is curl up in a foetal position on the sofa.”
― Bee Wilson, First Bite: How We Learn to Eat

“Eat soup.”
― Bee Wilson, First Bite: How We Learn to Eat

“Soup is cozy.”
― Adrienne Posey

“Gloria's soup is the same creamy white as her mousse, and dotted with crispy haggis croutons arranged in a half-moon shape. The "tattie scone" isn't the classic tattie scone, which is a flat potato-and-flour pancake fried crisp in a pan, but more like the risen scone you have with afternoon tea. Susan picks up the spoon and dips into the soup.
"Ohhhhhhh. The soup is perfect, smooth and luscious, with a slight tang from the turnips (the "neeps" of the title) that keeps it from being too heavy. The finishing flavor is smoky, peaty. A little whisky, perhaps? The haggis croutons crunch as she bites into them, and the burst of spice further tames and complements the velvety richness of the soup. She devours every bit, sopping up the last of it with the scone, which is surprisingly fluffy for something made with potato. Like that morning's amuse-bouche, she's sorry when the dish is finished.
But then Gloria appears, whisks the bowl away, and replaces it with a plate of seared trout with a lime-green sauce. On the side is rainbow chard and a small potato, split open, insides fluffed, topped with tuna tartare- a cheeky nod to a favorite Scottish meal of tuna salad-topped baked potato.
"Trout with a lemony samphire sauce”
― Brianne Moore, All Stirred Up

“On weekdays she cooked large batches of yukgaejang, taking pounds of brisket, bracken root, radishes, garlic, and bean sprouts, and bubbling them into a spicy shredded-beef soup, which she would ladle into small plastic bags and sell to office workers on their lunch breaks.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“We also really enjoyed the sunchoke soup and the slow-cooked black bass," said Luke. "Which chef made those?"
My fingertips tingled as I raised my hand. "I made them."
Luke nodded, his face serious. "The sunchoke soup was creamy, earthy, and smoky all at once, and those bacon croutons were crunchy and added some much-needed texture. We all liked the hint of thyme----it was just enough, as any more would have sent it over the edge.
"And the slow-cooked black bass was so tender it almost melted in our mouths. The preserved tomato broth was a touch salty for our tastes, and we thought the cauliflower could have been cooked a little less, but the texture of the nutty farro stood up against the broth and the fish quite well." He swallowed hard and looked me in the eye. What was that I saw now? Admiration? "Very nice, Chef Sadie."
I gave him the barest nod in response, but I felt like jumping up and down.”
― Amanda Elliot, Sadie on a Plate

“When it comes to lunchtime... we gather to eat a bowl of fresh soup every day. At some point mid-morning, the question "what soup shall we make today?" will have arisen...
The soup then gets made in our office kitchen by the volunteer of the day, and devoured around the meeting table amid much conversation and debate!... It feels wholesome and nourishing in more ways than one; we get health from our meal, and well-being from our sense of community.”
― Oliver Heath, Design A Healthy Home: 100 ways to transform your space for physical and mental wellbeing

“Why does Miso soup work to protect atomic bomb radiation survivors? The Miso soup appears to be counteracting the radiation induced changes in the gastrointestinal tract. The Hibakusha have adapted their diet to match the radiation induced damage in the gastrointestinal tract. They are the among the smartest people around!”
― Steven Magee, Magee’s Disease

“Stoned Soup by Stewart Stafford

Keith Richards talks Brendan Behan,
Making soup, wrapped in a blanket,
While in a kitchen in County Cork,
Mick Jagger listens and laughs loudly.

Discussing the previous night’s gig,
Mick says the crowd was wonderful,
Keith agrees and says so was Charlie,
Keith’s lip cigarette jigs to each word.

Through choking plumes of smoke,
The soup is ready, Mick tries some,
His notable lips curl downwards fast,
He humours Keith and says it’s great.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“I rub a hand over my face. By the fire, a spindly, insectile faerie stirs a big pot. "You want soup, mortal?"
I shake my head.
"You want to be soup?" It asks hopefully.”
― Holly Black

“I thought you said these were Chinese-style noodles...
...so I was expecting something with pork spareribs on top.
The fish dumpling noodles in Hong Kong are good...
but I've never seen anything like this in China.
What's this on the top?"
"Barbecued pork made from Berkshire boar, and jakoten."
" 'Jakoten'? "
"It's a specialty from the Shikoku prefecture. They're fish cakes made from ground sardines and deep-fried in oil.
They're nutritious and taste good too."
"Sardines, is it?"
"Ah, this barbecued pork is completely different from Chinese-style barbecued pork!"
"And this soup?"
"I made the stock with pork bones and flying fish yakiboshi...
... and boosted the flavor with some miso and soy sauce.
I don't use any MSG in it."
"Hmm... the combination of pork bones and yakiboshi isn't something that a Chinese chef would have thought of."
"I've never tasted a soup like this before!"
"The noodles have no kansui in them. After kneading the dough with eggs...
... I let it rest for a whole week."
"Mmm... they're firm and flavorful!"
"I haven't seen noodles like this in China either!"
"The aged noodles taste so good!”
― Tetsu Kariya, Ramen and Gyoza

“Mother Marrow gestures to the soup, and I, who can afford no more enemies, bring it to my lips. It tastes of a memory I cannot quite place, warm afternoons and splashing in pools and kicking plastic toys across the brown grass of summer lawns. Tears spring to my eyes.

I want to spill it out in to the dirt.

I want to drink it down to the dregs.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Is this a potato? It's so smooth! It doesn't have that muddy, earthy smell to it! It's not fluffy or dry, and it just melts away in my mouth!"
"This is 'potato stewed in butter.' It's a dish I learned from Ajihyakusen, an izakaya in Sapporo.
For the soup, you use the ichiban-dashi of a katsuobushi. That way you won't waste the scent of the potato.
And for ten potatoes, you place half a pound of salted butter into the dashi...
...flavor it with a very slight amount of salt and sugar, and stew it over extremely low heat.
In about forty minutes, the potatoes will start to float in the dashi. If you keep boiling the potatoes, they'll sink again and then come floating back up in two and a half hours.
All you need to do after that is to boil it for about thirty more minutes, and it's done."
"Then you boil it for almost four hours total?"
"Right. It takes a whole day to cook this, so even though this dish only costs 600 yen, you have to order at least a day in advance to eat it at the izakaya.
The dishes Kurita and I made the other day were all made to your order. They were dishes that avoided the true nature of the potato. But this is a dish that draws out the full taste of the potato in a very straightforward way.
By cooking the potato for several hours over low heat, the flavor of the potato seeps out into the dashi, and when that happens, the unique muddy smell of the potato disappears. The potato can be easily broken apart in the soup, and it melts away on your tongue."
"That's the biggest difference from the other potato dishes."
"You can taste the true flavor of the potato with it.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“Slowly, I turned around, to where the soup was now boiling, and ladled it into a bowl.

He watched every step I took to the table, the steaming bowl in my hands.

I stopped before him, staring down.

And I said, 'You love me?'

Rhys nodded.

And I wondered if love was too weak a word for what he felt, what he'd done for me. For what I felt for him.

I set the bowl down before him. 'Then eat.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“So that's the Wanmono Soup made by Satoshi Isshiki...
... the so-called Master of Aggressive Japanese Cuisine."
"Look how beautifully it's plated! Even the ingredient colors are coordinated!"
"A true work of art!"
"Just looking at it sucks me in."
"But the taste... how does it taste?!
Is it as delicious as it is gorgeous?!"
"Just one sip of the broth was enough to send a shock wave surging through my body. Delicately constructing a wanmono soup out of just hare and konbu is difficult enough.
But to incorporate clam stock as well?! And so seamlessly too!"
"Clams?!"
"Wait, the soup broth is hare... and also clam?! How does that even work?!"
"There are four major components of a proper wanmono soup.
Suiji --- the broth that forms the backbone of the dish
Sukuchi --- the ingredients that accent the dish's aroma
Wandane --- the main ingredient of the soup
Wanzuma --- the side ingredients that complement the wandane
Blending the hare and clam stocks in a seven-to-three ratio infused the suiji broth with the mellow, salty body of the clams...
... putting a new, delicious spin on the traditional wanmono soup broth!
And the fresh, tangy aroma of yuzu fruit in the suikuchi accent neatly underscores that flavor, making it stand out all the more!
With this, he's done nothing short of innovatively reinventing a traditional Japanese soup stock!”
― Yūto Tsukuda, 食戟のソーマ 29 [Shokugeki no Souma 29]