Leaves are turning yellow, homecoming week has come and gone, and pumpkin spice has returned to a cafe near you. Besides being incredibly melodramatic, these fall symbols are leading up to my favorite time of year: Soup season.
If you don’t already know, soup season is the time of year when it is so dreary and cold all the time that the only way to bring some warmth and serotonin into our lives is by cozying up with a steamy bowl of brothy goodness.
I didn’t make this soup season stuff up – go to literally any food blog’s recent posts right now. I would bet my Le Creuset (arguably the greatest soup-making vessel of all time, but that’s a story for another day) that you will see some variation of “10 best soups for the season.”
Over the weekend, my sister took soup season to a whole new level by offering a potluck soup and salad bar with all the best toppings at her baby shower.
There were four or five crock pots from various households warming up on every sturdy surface in my sister’s teal-blue kitchen, their contents spanning the soup spectrum from chili to chowder to brothy vegetable. Along the only empty wall was a folding table draped in a pink polka-dot plastic tablecloth, piled with bowls of cheese, oyster crackers, sour cream, tortilla strips and anything else you may need for your ideal soup.
For side dishes, there were three different kinds of vegetable and fruit platters and a huge bowl of lettuce with croutons, cucumbers and four different dressing options on the side. I cut the cucumbers on a side table in the living room for lack of free counter space in the kitchen and dining room.
And there was bread. Two different kinds. From here on out, I will be vehemently encouraging every pregnant person due in winter to have a soup babyshower. According to my sister, who is due in January, it was a no-brainer because there were no dishes to wash (she opted for pink plastic silverware and paper plates and bowls), she hardly had to cook anything herself, and there was an option for every dietary restriction. It’s a party-planner’s heaven!
Typically, family parties mean veggie burgers for my partner and I, the only vegans in our meat-loving families, no matter what anyone else is eating. I don’t mind it, but good soup was the perfect way to mix up this trend (even though my extremely pregnant sister cannot eat seasoning, meat or dairy, so the vegetable soup was add-your-own-garlic-powder).
You may be thinking, “wouldn’t a taco bar or a burger bar have similar benefits?” You could be right about that, and I can’t blame you for falling victim to the build-your-own taco or burger discourse because those are great options! However, if you want to have the most Instagrammable, the most indelible, the most fantastical baby shower of the year, you have to play into the season.
Think about it – your baby is coming in the summer, you have your babyshower in the Spring. What do you want to eat in the Spring? You’ve been cooped up all winter, you’re sick of soup (I know it’s hard to imagine that, but do your best), you want pasta salads, fruit salads, sandwiches, finger foods – you want a cookout.
The same logic follows for a winter baby, with a baby shower in the fall. You’ve been sweating a gross amount for the past three months, you’re sick of burgers and ketchup, you want – no, you need – to put on a sweater and set out a variety of soups that would rival even the most well-stocked Old Country Buffet.
What would be my most valuable lineup at my hypothetical baby shower? I am so glad you asked: Vegetarian chili, vegan broccoli cheddar, brothy white bean and minestrone with bread for days.
I will be looking for my invite to your next soup party. Until then, keep an eye out for upcoming soup recipes in our weekly newsletter this season. Stay soupy.