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These soups are made
BY LISA JAFFE HUBBELL
THOSE OF US WHO HAVE to feed ourselves
dinner, night after night, know about the vir
tues of big-batch cooking making a whole
vat of something to last a good part of the
week. It might be pretty tasty the first day or even the
second, but by the third argh!
Now, some cooks around the country have tackled
that problem by staging soup swaps. After organizing
friends at his own swaps for several years, Seattle resi
dent Knox Gardner inaugurated National Soup Sw-ap
Day. The word soon spread over food blogs and neigh
borhood list serves, and a critical mass of soup makers
staged simultaneous events all over the country this
past January. The 2008 event is Jan. 23;
organizers hope more people will
join in isee Gardner's blog at
soupswap.com for details).
Modeled after holiday JSjjjjMß
cookie exchanges “but
healthier,” Gardner says » " ~ 4
participants make 6
quaits of soup, freeze
it in 1-quart containers
and bring it to the swap.
Everyone thaws a num
ber to determine the se- ■■ , , ly
lection order. No. 1 picks jS.
first, and so on, through six
rounds. Before picking be
gins, however, is “the telling of
the soup,” Gardner says, when cooks
describe their creations. The stories are
always the highlight. “It’s become quite competitive.
Everyone wants their soup to be the star, and telling
the story of the soup is a chance to sell it to others.”
“My favorite story was about a corn and poblano
pepper chowder with shrimp,” says Renee McCallister,
whose January swap was held in Schenectady, N.Y. The
cook found the recipe years before, when she couldn’t
afford the ingredients. “The soup became her idea of the
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I Swappers at a D.C. event nibble and sip while enjoying the thrill of the pick. The high point is the
"telling of the soup," where guests hype their creations. For more info, check out soupswap.com.
future a time when she could
make the soup and make it for
someone special,” McCallister says.
| n Washington, D.C., Adrienne Culler
land Margaret Simino, who ran the
soup-centric site gi-aciousbowl.com, report that the
most popular entry at their swap was ancho chili con
carne. “It may sound like cheating to hard-core foodies
and their definitions of soup, but in the end, it’s all about
a good time and a packed freezer,” Culler says. (And,
let’s face it, it’s also about getting almost a week’s worth
of meals you only have to reheat.)
Many in the D.C. group provided extras with their
soups containers of Japanese root vegetable soup
Groups from Seattle to Schenectady
cook lots of soup, socialize a bit,
then head home with future dinners.
wrapped in pretty cloth bags; Manchego cheese crisps
to pail- with the sweet potato chowder; a bag of shrimp
chips with the Thai lemon grass-shrimp soup. Guests
also collected canned goods for a local food bank.
Gardner thinks that too many rules can spoil a swap,
but some guidelines are necessary (see the box on the
next page). Don’t cater to everyone’s dietary whims,
but do label the soups and list ingredients. And care
fully consider how many people you invite to the swap.
More people means more soup choices, but the bigger
the crowd, the longer it will take for the telling of the
soup and six rounds of swapping.
Culler says seven people seems like a good minimum:
“That way, everyone gets to take home six different kinds
of soups.”
PHOTOS BY JO£ FOLEY