You Like Soup? - A Dog Has His Warhol Moment

I went for a walk with Kay the other night and she asked, "What are you going to write about for your blog?"

"I don't know," I responded, -too weary from the current day to consider the next.

"You should write about soup," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Soup?" I skeptically questioned. "You like soup?"

"No. I never eat soup. I don't like it."

"Me neither," I concurred. "Too watery."

"And cream soups!" she groaned, "They make me gag! But soups are warm, and people who like them eat them in winter." We continued walking. "I have a recipe for lentil soup with carrots and Swiss cheese," Kay offered. "I made it years ago. The last time was for a former boyfriend. But he and his brother laughed at it so I haven't made it since. It was healthy, though...until they added all that salt."

"I ate a good lentil soup once," I told her. "Back in high school...I still remember it."

When I got home, I was cold. I wanted a little something warm for dinner, but nothing much. I wasn't that hungry. Somehow soup came to mind. For lack of other effortless options, I studied the soup cans in the cupboard. I buy them for the kids; sometimes they ask for soup.

I took out a can of Campbell's Select Tomato Garden. The veggies on the label looked healthy and tasty. "Write about soup." I considered Kay's advice.

"Why not?" I thought, too weary to think clearly. As I snapped photos of the can, pictures of Andy Warhol's famous Campbell Soup cans appeared in my head. In photographing my soup can, I felt like I was re-enacting a piece of Americana - Warhol and his Campbell Soup. Strangely, a blog post about a can of Campbell's soup felt like it had the potential to be mistaken for literature. Emboldened by delusion, I snapped shots of the soup in all its phases - in can, in bowl, in bowl with spoon immediately preceding consumption...   

 

I'll argue that a critique of the soup's contents is irrelevant. But for those who enjoy soup reviews, here goes. I liked the big veggie chunks, - the zucchini, carrots, and tomato. But the broth was too sweet for me. As I read the ingredients list I lost count of how many times sugar had been added. "But that's O.K." I thought. "Some people really like sweet soups."

I looked at the dog beside me. Did Sam like sweet soup? His eyes were definitely suggesting I give him the opportunity to form an opinion. Well, I'd already eaten most of the veggies. Really, only broth was left, so I gave it to him. I took more pictures, - the final stages in the life of this can of soup. And in Sam, I met my Jack Spratt. He definitely liked the sweet broth. He kept licking and licking that bowl. He tried to leave the corn bits, but later went back and ate them as an afterthought.

And so that's that, - our Warhol moment. I've now documented the brief life of a tomato soup can and the enthusiastic response by it's newest fan, my dog. However, despite the dubious artistic merit of this post, do not misconstrue it as being either an endorsement or censure of Campbell's Select Tomato Garden soup. I'm no judge. After all, I already told you, I don't like soup.

And now at this point in my typical blog posts, I direct attention to gourmet, specialty foods related to this topic which are made by people in Wisconsin. However, my search of their communal website, Wisconsinmade.com shows no soup for sale, not even a packaged mix. Am I surprised?  

But we do have cookbooks authored by Wisconsin chefs, and in these cookbooks are recipes for soup. One soup most often included in these recipe compilations is Wisconsin beer cheese soup. This is not surprising,- how can you go wrong with beer and WI cheese? These recipes are hard to mess up and really popular. That's why beer cheese soup is routinely the soup de jour at Wisconsin supper clubs.

But moving beyond soup, we can consider alternatives to soup which also have fast delivery times from cupboard to mouth. I'm talking about convenience foods that taste good. Here are some:

Snack and Go String Cheese and Cheese Curds- These are an especially good snack for folks trying out a New Year's, high-protein, low-carb diet.

 

Buffalo Summer Sausage - quick to eat and so lean it's a healthy high-protein snack.

 

 

All Natural Granola is another fast, healthy option.

 

And of course, Fireworks Microwave Popcorn is a fast and fun.

In Wisconsin we know a lot about "how to do warm". Soup is not our only answer. Hot coffee does the trick! Here's just one coffee roasted in Wisconsin: Organic Estate Gourmet Coffee.

 

 

 

Whichever you choose, we hope you stay warm and healthy.

You can receive $5.00 off any Wisconsinmade.com purchase by entering this offer code with your order: FBLOG109. Offer expires Feb. 1, 2009.

 

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