🎙️
7

Grandma's depression soup: from bland to meaningful in one story

I always found grandma's vegetable soup too watery. It lacked flavor, and I'd add salt every time. Last fall, she told me it was a depression-era recipe, stretched to feed many with little. The wateriness was intentional, to make it last. Hearing that, I had a bowl and saw it in a new light. Now, I make it when funds are low, and it feels like history. It's not restaurant quality, but it's real. Sometimes, the backstory is the best seasoning.
3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
3 Comments
reese_nelson
My grandma just called hers bad soup, no story needed.
4
sethhernandez
My grandma did the same thing with watery stew, she'd just call it dishwater stew and shrug. No big explanation, just stating facts. Makes you wonder what their generation considered real soup, right? What did your grandma put in her bad soup anyway?
3
seth_harris36
Wait, dishwater stew? That's a name that really tells you everything you need to know, lmao. My grandma's bad soup was just boiled potatoes and onions floating in salt water, nothing else. It's wild they just served that up with a straight face.
4