{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "title": "Soup not war", "language": "en", "home_page_url": "https://soupnotwar.com/", "feed_url": "https://soupnotwar.com/feed/feed.json", "description": ""Appetitive solutions to social problems"", "author": { "name": "Kim "Flameheart" Biography", "url": "https://soupnotwar.com" }, "items": [ { "id": "https://soupnotwar.com/reviews/tomato-and-sweet-basil-bisque/", "url": "https://soupnotwar.com/reviews/tomato-and-sweet-basil-bisque/", "title": "Review of Tomato and Sweet Basil Bisque", "content_html": "

The Rating #

\n

Didn't come in a can but it tasted like it did, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in my book! Five stars.

\n

Vendor #

\n

amazon.com

\n

Bill #

\n

15.5 oz. container for $2.98

\n

Review #

\n

Bisque #

\n

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, bisque is:

\n
A term for the odds which one [tennis] player gives the other in allowing him to score one point once during the 'set' at any time he may elect. Also in Croquet: An extra turn allowed to a weaker player.
\n

There is not a single element of this definition that rings true with my experience of the bisque currently under review. But as an empiricist I will not let this odd definition phase me.

\n

\"mug

\n

The stuff I have in front of me is rich; it's almost a sauce. I like that. But it's intensely salty. Like everyone, I like salty things, but this soup left me dying for a glass of water.

\n

\"mug

\n

The taste of the bisque recalls SpaghettiOs, and while I enjoyed SpaghettiOs in my youth I don't believe for a second Campbell's was aiming to emulate them for this "Slow Kettle-Style" line of soups. With the Slow Kettle-Style soups they are clearly appealing to contemporary consumers' increasing demands for the natural/organic/raw/unprocessed/etc. And yet this particular soup tastes so similar to that quintessential processed food. Try again, Campbell's!

\n

Non-Bisque Components #

\n

A smattering of tomato chunks. I would need more tomato chunks to be able to call this soup hearty.

\n

\"spoon

\n

Spice #

\n

more basil please!

\n

Smell #

\n

This soup made sure it was remembered for at least a two or three hours after consumption. After that, no lingering smell.

\n

Mode of Consumption #

\n

Shout out to my pals from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland! This cup doesn't hold much, which ensures slow consumption due to my reluctance to get up for a refill. I drank from the cup, used a spoon, and also used my toast to consume the bisque.

\n

\"mug

\n

Portion #

\n

I ate the whole thing.

\n

Presentation #

\n

I ordered the soup from Amazon and here's what I got. Some kind of plastic container but opened with a pop-top sort of arrangement.

\n

\"product

\n

Comparison #

\n

My experience with canned tomato soups is limited to Progresso, Amy's, and Campbells' other styles. Amy's offers a low-sodium tomato soup that would, I'm willing to bet, solve the problems presented on that front by the soup currently under review.

\n

On the side #

\n

I've always enjoyed putting crackers or dunking bread in my soups. In this case, I made some rye bread toast on my stove and topped it with a bit of salt and pepper.

\n

\"toast

\n

Frame #

\n

Under the weather.

\n

Slideshow #

\n\n" , "date_published": "2015-10-18T00:00:00Z" } , { "id": "https://soupnotwar.com/reviews/rasam-soup/", "url": "https://soupnotwar.com/reviews/rasam-soup/", "title": "Review of Rasam Soup", "content_html": "

The Rating #

\n

A challenging, insufficiently rewarding experience of soup in itself, but the healthy portions and the good-will generating from soup certainly gives cause for pause! Five stars.

\n

Vendor #

\n

A neighborhood Indian kitchen, by delivery.

\n

Bill #

\n\n

Total before tax, gratuity, and delivery charge $14.27

\n

Review #

\n

Broth #

\n

Usually I like sourness in soups very much and the Rasam was no exception when it came to the broth. Some of my favorite soups are sour (e.g., żurek, made from sour rye) but my concerns with non-broth elements overrides my appreciation of the broth here.

\n

\"rasam

\n

The fat globules at the surface of the soup captured with my semi-professional camera's flash. Take a look at that. Great stuff!

\n

\"just

\n

Non-Broth Components #

\n\n

\"a

\n

\"soup

\n

\"remnants

\n

All in all, with the aforementioned non-broth elements, few of which I have much experience with, there was a certain excitement to slurping up this soup and not knowing what will be in the next bite. The problems arose when I got a spoonful of peppercorns or the odd red pepper.

\n

Spice #

\n

Very spicy. Loved this aspect of the Rasam.

\n

Smell #

\n

Quite a pungent soup with a lingering presence in my apartment (likely due in large part to poor ventilation); I don't mind at all.

\n

Mode of Consumption #

\n

I'm used to eating my soups from my yellow mug, apt for alternating between drinking the soup and using a spoon. When it comes to these larger format soups, clearly I need to buy some bowls! First, I transferred the soup from the plastic container in which it was delivered into a large plastic measuring cup that I bought from Walmart when I first moved here. Then, I moved the cargo once again into a mason jar once it become clear that spooning the soup was beyond my patience at the time. Once the soup became drinkable, however, I did lose some of the depth of insight that a spoon affords, in training the user to take the soup gradually and perhaps a bit more mindfully than when it can simply be drunk.

\n

Portion #

\n

A cup and a half, or about a third of a liter.

\n

Presentation #

\n

The soup was delivered in the typical standard plastic to-go container for soups.

\n

\"dishes

\n

Comparison #

\n

I had no prior experience with this particular soup. The sourness called to mind something like a hot and sour soup one might find at a Thai restaurant. The impossibly hot peppers reminded me of accidentally eating a very hot pepper a couple years back in Chicago's China town. Unpleasant; altogether lacking the quasi-pleasant effect that very spicy food can have.

\n

On the side #

\n

Samosa Chaat before, and Pistachio Kulfi afterwards. The ice cream was packed with pistachios and soothed my semi-offended taste buds. But this is a review of the soup, not the ice cream.

\n

\"dessert\"

\n

Frame #

\n

Extremely hungry, a little hungover.

\n

Slideshow #

\n\n" , "date_published": "2015-10-11T00:00:00Z" } ] }