Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Sunday, April 27, 2008

No soup for you

Since I still don't really have an appetite, I've been trying to eat a lot of soup so that I at least get some kind of vitamins & minerals on a daily basis. And now that I'm back in the US, I've been thinking about something both my mom and a friend of mine commented on recently, ie. why are almost all French soups pureed?

I eat a lot of soup in France, yet this is something I've never noticed before. But now that I'm back in the US, I'm realizing that it's true. So anyone have any theories? Why are 90% of French soups pureed? It's kind of odd, non?

16 Comments:

Blogger Princesse Ecossaise said...

There will be some ridiculous reason for it, you know the French!

I will never forget being told by a Frenchman that he eats a sandwich once a month but that he was trying to stop because they are "veree, veree bad for zee 'ealth".

They are a strange bunch.

April 27, 2008 at 8:06 PM  
Blogger juliwalters said...

I am not sure why but they taste better pureed I think, maybe that way averything is evenly distributed? You think French are weird, try eating like the Dutch. I have lost ten pounds this month. Good, yes but I know it will come back when I get home lol
I am sorry you are feeling so bad Sam, after all you do love him and I am sure it is very very hard.

April 27, 2008 at 8:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

no teeth?

April 27, 2008 at 9:40 PM  
Blogger Starman said...

I've never noticed really. I usually have soup as my starter dish, but I wouldn't know pureed from a soufflé.

April 27, 2008 at 10:01 PM  
Blogger parisiannewyorker said...

YES! I made soup back when I was still in Paris and I would make it using a special bouillon I brought back from the US (so it was gluten free; GF bouillon cubes in France are non existent!) and I would chop up veggies and chicken and that was my soup. My husband was like, "Um, this is soup????!!!" He only knew of the French puréed veggie soups.

The best part though was when his little sister said she preferred the "American soups" to the French puréed ones. But my husband insists that my "soups" are actually stews and the "real soup" is puréed veggies.

April 27, 2008 at 11:49 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Well, first of all, French soups enter different categories: "soupe", "potage", "velouté"..
I don't agree French soups are automatically puréed. My both grandmothers' veggies soups were with chunk vegetables in bouillons, like the onion soup. The many American soups I buy are puréed (like the pumpkin one, tomato...)

April 28, 2008 at 1:50 AM  
Blogger islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hi Sam...
This is soooooo OFF topic... but it was 103F today in San Diego and I am already tan!!!! Big hugs, Leesa :)

April 28, 2008 at 3:53 AM  
Blogger islandgirl4ever2 said...

PS.... I'll go with the "no teeth" comment from Purejuice...hehehe! No, I think that Sophie is right!! But, I did show my hubby the soup section at Albertsons, and said.... "See... look at all the soup (Campbell's) we have!!

April 28, 2008 at 3:55 AM  
Blogger Katie Zeller said...

It's not just the French - the Brits and Irish do it, too. And a lot of the Spanish soups, as well. I can't speak to the other countries.
A Scots friend made a wonderful, chunky lamb and veg soup... and just before she served it, stuck in the stick blender!

April 28, 2008 at 9:32 AM  
Blogger La Belette Rouge said...

I am not sure if they have them in your neck of the states, but when I feel bad I often crave Anderson's Split Pea Soup. Yummy! But, it to is pureed. Not sure if you are anti-puree at this point or not.

April 28, 2008 at 4:04 PM  
Blogger Lauren said...

my host mom often made soup and she ALWAYS pureed it until i told her that i preferred it with veggie chunks, at which point she stopped puree-ing. she told me that when she was growing up her mother told her that eating soup daily helps you grow taller.

April 28, 2008 at 6:46 PM  
Blogger Ken Broadhurst said...

When my mother's sister came to France a few years ago, she was happy to be able to order vegetable soup -- soupe de légumes -- in a restaurant. But when it came, she got mad with me because I hadn't told her it would be a greenish-white puree instead of chunks of veggies and meat in a red tomato broth. So this issue does matter to people. But I don't know why our habits are different in different cultures and countries.

April 28, 2008 at 7:40 PM  
Blogger Diane Cransac said...

My mother-in-law always purees her soups too. I hadn't really noticed till you said something though.
LOL @ princesse ecossaise...my husband constantly lectures me on the evils of eating sandwiches. They really do believe they are unhealthy! He will sit there and eat a plate of meat, cheese and bread and not even consider that he is eating THE SAME THING.

April 29, 2008 at 9:15 AM  
Blogger juliwalters said...

omg Diane, the Dutchman is the same way. He has "bread" which is bread of course and spread and meat, cheese, veg or some sort of salade and that is bread, it is not a sandwich, Dutch don't eat sandwiches lol I am like ok whatever. It IS a snadwich and he tells me how unhealthy it is to eat sandwiches. I need to ask him exactly what he thinks is on a sandwich.

April 29, 2008 at 5:13 PM  
Blogger Ginger said...

Hmmmm, *fingers to temples thinking ... * Well, my Breton does eat sandwiches but this is when we pack a "pique nique" (sp?). You know, a slab of pain batard, some meat, lettuce, tomato. We go for a walk in the forest or at the beach and share some wine along with. It is more the "portable food". Add some cheese and pieces of chocolate and we both are quite happy ! So far as the soups are concerned, yeh, I've noticed this. My Scot-Irish father prefers the chunkier types of soup but my mother, an American born Bretonne tends to do as her mother does ... use the stick blender and puree. I don't understand either but I grew up eating this ways so I don't mind really. Actually, I'll eat anything !

So far as sandwiches being unhealthy .... I don't know, I was raised in New England. I wonder if this is beacause the French feel that meals should take a longer time and that sandwiches lend to a fast-food or quicker eating mentality ? Strictly a guess ... but perhaps ... ?

Hang in there Sam. You are wounded. All wounds demand some "down time" ... in general, give yourself some time to heal.

And yeh, the village concept .... the ablitity to walk where you need to go in the US is lacking. I adore walking. If there was no other reason to live in Europe for me this would be it !

Take care of you.

Sue

April 30, 2008 at 12:42 AM  
Blogger Cécy said...

Well my family always did both. The first days the soup would usually be chunks, then later on my grandma would puree it and add "vermicelle" to it.
I think when you are a child you tend to eat it more easily if it's pureed because it doesn't look like vegetables, maybe adults keep the habit of it?
Anyway I've always eaten both kinds. Soupe aux choux, garbures, potage aux legumes are usually chunky. It might depend on the regions too.

July 16, 2008 at 3:28 PM  

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