Menu Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tomato soup

You say to-mate-to and I say to-mar-to. Whichever way it's pronounced, tomato soup is obviously made from tomatoes. It can be eaten hot or cold. Eating it cold is a rather gruesome thought though, a little like drinking from a bottle of ketchup. Home made tomato soup can include chunks of tomato as well as the sauce, while the canned version tends to be smooth and creamy. One Maria Parloa (1843-1909) from Massachusetts has been credited with making this delicious soup in 1872. Orphaned at an early age, she worked initially as a cook in various establishments, then studied to become a teacher.

While working in a small country town, Maria was invited to give a talk on cooking in order to raise funds to buy a new organ for the local church. This was so successful that, by 1877, she was giving public lectures on the culinary arts in Boston. It was here, while continuing her lectures, that she decided to open a school for cooking. By the turn of the century, she had adopted two orphan girls, published many cookery books, toured the world picking up new recipes, and made herself a small fortune. And all thanks to the little tomato.

Answer: Clam Chowder soup

Chowder is basically a seafood stew. Clam chowder is usually made with potatoes, onions, celery and clams and garnished with parsley or bay leaves. This soup originated in the New England area of the United States, where clams were very plentiful. It rose to popularity partly because of the early Roman Catholic practice of abstaining from eating meat on Fridays to honour the crucifixion of Jesus and the belief that He was crucified on a Friday. Though the practice of refraining from meat on this day of the week is no longer compulsory, clam chowder continues to remain very popular on Friday menus.

There are several different recipes for clam chowder in this area of the world, each with its own specific ingredients. For example, the Manhattan dish includes tomato as a flavouring, Rhode Island adds bacon to theirs, New Jersey adds several additional ingredients including crab and asparagus, while Delaware includes cured and salted pork. Not being a fan of any form of seafood, I do believe I'd just stick to nibbling on the crackers that usually accompany any of these varieties.

Answer: Pea and Ham soup

Pea and ham soup is quite delicious. Though eaten right around the globe, it is in Germany that it is most popular. There they also add pieces of pork sausage to their variety, as well as the split peas, onion, potatoes, celery, carrot and small pieces of ham which comprise the normal ingredients. Pea and ham soup derived from the original pea soup, which was just soup made from dried peas.

This doesn't sound particularly appealing but is apparently quite tasty. Pea soup, in fact, has been eaten by various cultures for thousands of years.

It was nourishing and cheap to make, and, such was its popularity, that it was sold by street vendors way back in the days of Ancient Greece. Tizzied up a bit, it was even served in the 17th century courts of the Sun King himself, Louis XIV of France.

The one disadvantage of this soup, and I hate to sound indelicate, is that it gives you wind. Big time. Cyclonic, in fact.

Answer: Minestrone

Minestrone is a thick Italian soup usually made with beans, onions, celery, carrots, pasta, tomatoes and various flavourings. Its recipe isn't set in cement though and any vegetables can be used, and rice instead of pasta. How gluggy. Professional chefs however will state crisply that it isn't minestrone soup if not made with Roman beans.

The origin of this soup dates back to before the Roman Empire days, so it certainly has stood the test of time. One of its advantages is that, because it normally isn't meat based, it will keep well for several days.

The Roman army probably marched on minestrone. Rather dubiously though, one early form of the Roman soup included brains. One would, hope, most sincerely, that these didn't belong to their foes.

Answer: Maryland Crab

Annapolis is the capital city of the state of Maryland in the United States. The soup, Maryland Crab, sprang from this area. Though, like most soups, different ingredients are added by different cooks, the traditional ingredients for this crabby dish are a tomato base, vegetables, Old Bay Seasoning and blue crab. Old Bay Seasoning is a mix of many spices, and sounds rather more delicious than the soup itself. It was invented for the sole purpose of adding a zesty flavour to various seafood dishes, but primarily crab and shrimp, and for many years it was kept as a permanent part of the stores of naval vessels.

The blue crab, a really unappealing looking creature, ranges from Nova Scotia in Canada, right down to the Gulf of Mexico in the US. The difference between the genders can be seen in the shape of the abdomen of this little beastie. The male has a long, slender stomach, while the female's abdomen is round and wide. It's just not fair, is it, ladies? Even the female crab struggles with her waistline. This little female only mates once in a lifetime, but from that one single foray into matrimony, she can produce eight million, yes, eight million, eggs. That's absolutely astonishing. Given the number of her offspring, however, it's not at all surprising that she only chooses to mate the one time.

Answer: Lentil soup

A lintel is a horizontal support over two columns or post, usually found over doorways. Lentil soup is a meat or vegetable soup, based, not at all surprisingly, on lentils. Lentils, which are very high in protein, fibre, potassium and iron, come in several different colours and can be cooked with their husks, or without them. Cooking them without their husks tends to make the soup much thicker, and leads to a considerable difference in flavour. This amazing little plant has been found in caves more than 13,000 years old, which is a glowing testimony to their worth for mankind.

In the Bible's Genesis 25:30-34 (KJV), it was for a bowl of lentil soup Jacob was cooking, that the foolish, but starving, biblical Esau was prepared to give away his inheritance. One can't help but think that Jacob, his twin brother, was anything but generous in his behaviour in this regard. Other ingredients that can be added to this soup include potato, carrots, celery, onion, you name it and it can be thrown into the pot. Flavours used include garlic, olive oil, cumin, bay leaf, vinegar, butter, cream, yoghurt and even lemon juice. This soup really sounds quite yummy in fact.

Answer: Philadelphia Pepper Pot

Philadelphia Pepper Pot soup dates back to the famous American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) when the colonists used any ingredient possible to make nourishing foods. This dish is made from tripe, and that, as you know, is the lining of a cow's stomach. With memories of boarding school fare still making me queasy, this soup would never, ever be on my menu. Tripe itself was once considered a nutritious (oh I feel ill) dish commonly eaten by members of the poorer classes during the Victorian age. Today however, though some brave souls still munch into its rubbery taste (it practically bounces in your stomach), it is used more in pet food. Pet food? They fed up pet food at boarding school??

Other ingredients used in this diabolical dish include vegetables, seasoning and pepper. Lots and lots of seasoning and pepper, plus, if I ever have the misfortune to eat it again, a personal recommendation that this be followed by a stiff Scotch chaser.

Answer: Chicken soup

Chicken soup is a tasty winter treat made of course from chicken, vegetables, flavouring, and, more often than not, pasta in the shape of very thin noodles. Variations on the noodles can include dumplings, rice, macaroni or barley. Barley sounds quite nice. Chicken soup is a kind a panacea for all ills. It's lovely to have a nice hot steaming bowl of it if you're feeling a bit under the weather, and many people, in fact, use it a treatment for colds and flu.

There are almost as many different ways to cook this delicious treat as there are countries in the world. In Bulgaria, for example, they flavour it with lemon juice, vinegar, yoghurt or, taking it full circle, even with egg. In China, extra ingredients include rice wine and soy sauce, while France sloshes in white wine and garlic. Both would be rather potent, one would think. After a couple of bowls, you wouldn't care whether you had the flu or not. Colombia incorporates avocado, cream or corn into the recipe, while Hungarians include the innards of the chook in as well. No thank you. European Jewish people, particularly during the persecution days of their history, used everything but the feathers in their chicken soup. That included the neck and the feet. This is a soup still favoured by many Jewish people today. It's really quite fascinating to read the various chicken soup recipes from all over the world.

Answer: Vichyssoise

If you ever make a spelling error with that word, you have my sympathies. It's difficult. Vichyssoise is thought by most people to be a French created soup, but the United States also lays claim to it as well. A French chef, Louis Diat, who was working in the States in 1917, insists it was he who came up with its ingredients, based on his memories of his childhood in France and the cooking of his mother and grandmother. So that seems to settle the argument it would seem - it's both French AND American.

A French chef named Jules Gouffe would object to that if still alive, however. He included a similar recipe in a cookery book published in his country way back in 1869. It doesn't say what name Gouffe gave his creation, but Diat called his concoction after Vichy, a nearby city to his childhood home. Vichyssoise has ingredients that include leeks, onions, potatoes, cream and chicken flavouring. It can be eaten either hot or cold. To cool it, it is customary to pour cold milk into the freshly cooked soup. This has the added benefit of enhancing the flavour further. It sounds rather appealing on paper, although the idea of eating it cold seems to be at odds with the traditional idea of a bowl of nice hot soup.

Answer: Alphabet soup

Alphabet soup is a tomato based soup filled with noodles in the shape of various letters of the alphabet. Children usually love this one. Out of a can, that is. If you went to the trouble of cooking it from scratch, they'd probably turn up their cute little snouts at it. Ingredients for the home made variety include onion, garlic, carrot, chicken broth, white beans, tomatoes, oregano, cayenne pepper, and alphabet pasta.

The expression "Alphabet soup" has also become a fairly common light-hearted term poking fun at government departments in various countries with their myriad departments and programs featuring names that have all been shortened to acronyms. There's hundreds of them in this country, for example. To put it in the words of the wife of one of our former Prime Ministers, it's all a lot of hoo-ha. And with that, I'll say ta-ta. Thank you for playing. (Ma, is the soup ready yet?)