Passadoc Gazette – No 182

Soup*... It appears in our menus when man manages to control the fire, i.e. « some 400,000 years ago B.C.E. »Say the historians. It is then that hot water in which the Bocuse of the time throws roots, herbs and sometimes pieces of meat.

Over time, the recipe will enrich: cereals, vegetables of all kinds and the least leftovers of game because – ecolo without knowing it – the Neanderthalist does not throw anything!

The invaders, the travelers enrich the recipes: in the pot* We'll throw rice from the East... Fish, honey, spices... Wine.

This is the Middle Ages. Manuscripts mention the arrival of bread (replacing cereal cakes) which becomes the main meal of peasants, workers, poor people: a large slice of bread is watered with broth. Roborative, assisted by quenched soup is usually the only hot dish of the lunch or evening meal.

If the word « soup » is also used in the more affluent classes, from the 18th century it becomes « soup » in the nobility; We'll have three or four of them before we move on. According to legend, Louis XV created the recipe for the « Royal soup », which is other than... the onion soup for which you need onions of course, butter... And champagne!

Revenues will follow... Each has its name and its differences: consummated, velvety, bisque, broth, minetrone, brouet, garb, gaspacho, etc.

– And our soup, what do we call it?
– Say to smile that she's called bouillabaisse !
"Impossible, even to smile, because the bouillabaisse is not a soup!"

Jeanne Monin