Twenty thousand years ago, humans living in a cave in Jiangxi province, China, made some of the earliest pottery. The inhabitants of Xianredong cave likely used these vessels for cooking based on the signs of burning on the exterior of the remaining shards. Perhaps these people were the first to discover the wonders of soup and, by extension, stew. Unlike roasting or grilling, which require keeping a close eye on your food lest it burns, pots of ingredients can be left to boil or simmer while you perform other tasks. Boiling also helps make wild grains suitable for digestion, encouraging early agricultural development. Boiling food isn’t just ancient; it’s nearly universal. Medieval European peasants relied on boiling grains, vegetables and, if lucky, meat to make a pottage or stew for most of their meals, while a similar dish called congee proliferated across Asia. During the industrial revolution, pasta and noodles spread worldwide from Italy and China. These forms of grain cook much faster than earlier forms, keeping soup on the tables of busy workers. Even today, a hearty soup or stew provides comfort on a cold winter’s day or can be made to help an ill person stay hydrated while they recover.
Soup formed the basis of many medieval people’s diets.
In the Netherlands, the company best known for promoting “Italian” food, such as the vermicelli noodles often used in soups, is called Honig. It was founded in 1876. They are still among the most popular food brands in the Netherlands and are found in two of every three households’ cupboards. When my oma (Dutch for Grandmother) moved to Canada in the 1950ies, she was happy to discover she could still find these products, although the New Westminster “Holland Shopping Center” was admittedly a bit far from her new home of Powell River, BC; a small town built around the papermill my opa worked for. Globalization meant that she could have a taste of home despite living so far from it.
Oma moved from here… (the family home is directly behind the house on the right, this neighbour had a phone which was used to communicate important news from Canada, such as my dad’s birth!)
To here… (the paper mill is on the left, and the original planned townsite is visible to the right. Oma and Opa’s house is further to the right/south in the newer part of town.)
As she got used to her new life in Canada, Oma enjoyed watching Hockey Night in Canada with her family on Saturday nights. However, due to the show’s timing, she found it frustrating that she would have to miss part of the game to cook dinner. Eventually, she had the idea to start making her “veg-a-tibble” soup on Saturday nights, which was quick and easy to prepare. Made almost exclusively of Honig products, her Dutch soup became a staple of Hockey Nights. Filled with meatballs and noodles and served with crackers, it provides a complete meal in a single bowl. It was my dad’s favourite meal, while his sister preferred the “sicken-noodle” soup, so oma wisely alternated between the two.
Oma hated to risk missing anything during Saturday night hockey!
When my dad went away to university in the lower mainland, this soup was one of the recipes she taught him to make. According to my mom, when she met him at UBC, he only knew how to cook seven things for dinner, one for each day of the week. He denies this accusation and says he cooked that way for simplicities sake, not because he didn’t know how to make anything else. In any case, as I grew up, “oma’s” soup became a favourite of mine. Dad often made it when he took over the cooking for the night. Because this happened whenever I got mom sick, I associate the soup with runny noses, sore throats, and cold winter nights. The warm, salty soup always went down easily, while the meatballs, noodles and crackers were filling.
Oma’s soup ingredients, fresh from the Holland Shopping Center in New Westminster.
While “oma’s” soup is a staple of my family, it’s one without an everyday equivalent. I’ll admit that vegetable soup with meatballs is a strange combination, but it’s surprisingly good. Some styles of Italian wedding soup are the closest analog I’ve found. Italian wedding soup is more accurately named “marriage soup,” referring to the marriage of different flavours and ingredients. It was popularized by Italian-American immigrants and features green vegetables, meatballs and noodles in a clear broth (usually chicken). It’s possible my oma was inspired by some of the many Italian immigrants to Powell River to add meatballs to her soup. Unfortunately, though her recipe lives on, she passed away many years ago, so we’ll likely never know the source of her mad genius. I plan to keep her recipe alive for many years to come as soon as I figure out how to duplicate it without any gluten. For those of you with healthy digestive systems, the recipe is as follows:
Make small (approx. ½ inch) meatballs from lean ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Breadcrumbs and eggs are optional. Dad would often make these ahead of time and freeze them.
Use one box of Honig’s vegetable soup mix (53 g) as directed.
Add one cube of Knorr or Honig’s vegetable bouillon (10g)
Add one can of Bonduelle soup vegetable mix
Add one package of dried soup vegetable mix
Once boiling, add meatballs and thin vermicelli noodles
Let boil for 5 minutes or until meatballs and noodles are cooked through.
Serve with soda crackers and Maggi for seasoning.
It tastes even better the next day, so make lots!
Don’t forget the Maggi seasoning sauce! (It’s in the famous brown bottle in the center and adds a wonderful salty umami flavour)
Sources:
Kempen, Tanja. “Honig – A Brief History Lesson – 150 Years of Family Meals.” chuck studios, September 6, 2021. https://chuckstudios.com/snack-break-honig-150-years-of-family-meals/.
Lim, Lisa. “Where the Word Congee Comes from – the Answer May Surprise You.” South China Morning Post. South China Morning Post, November 10, 2017. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2119163/where-word-congee-comes-answer-may-surprise-you.
Pooley, Star. “Italian Wedding Soup.” Allrecipes, March 3, 2023. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13024/italian-wedding-soup-i/.
University of Bristol. “New Research Reveals What Was on the Menu for Medieval Peasants.” May: medieval peasant menu | News and features | University of Bristol. University of Bristol, May 20, 2019. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/may/medieval-peasant-diet.html#:~:text=Thefindingsdemonstratedthatstews,importantroleintheirdiet.
Wu, Xiaohong, Chi Zhang, Paul Goldberg, David Cohen, Yan Pan, Trina Arpin, and Ofer Bar-Yosef. “Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China.” Science 336, no. 6089 (2012): 1696–1700. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41585168.
Image Citations:
Unknown “Brouet Medieval” 14th cent. Painting. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brouet_mdival.jpg [accessed April 3rd 2023]
LEK, V.D. “Dorpsgezicht – Spaarndam” Dec 1968, photograph. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorpsgezicht_-_Spaarndam_-_20202969_-_RCE.jpg [accessed April 3rd, 2023]
Blake, James “Powell River Aerial 2004” 28 October 2004. Photograph. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Powell_River_Aerial_2004.jpg [accessed April 3rd, 2023]
Weaver, Logan “Ice Hockey players on Ice Hockey Stadium” 3 February 2020. Photograph. https://unsplash.com/photos/GXQP77GIsIU [accessed April 3rd, 2023]
Spencer-Spreeuw, Rosalee “Oma’s Soup Ingredients” 2 April 2023. Photograph. Used with the author’s permission.
Jorg “Maggie Advertisement” N.D. Image. https://pixabay.com/photos/maggi-soup-spice-cook-kitchen-3773966/ [accessed April 3rd, 2023]
Sources: Kempen, Tanja. “Honig - A Brief History Lesson - 150 Years of Family Meals.” chuck studios, September 6, 2021. https://chuckstudios.com/snack-break-honig-150-years-of-family-meals/. Lim, Lisa. “Where the Word Congee Comes from – the Answer May Surprise You.” South China Morning Post. South China Morning Post, November 10, 2017. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2119163/where-word-congee-comes-answer-may-surprise-you. Pooley, Star. “Italian Wedding Soup.” Allrecipes, March 3, 2023. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13024/italian-wedding-soup-i/. University of Bristol. “New Research Reveals What Was on the Menu for Medieval Peasants.” May: medieval peasant menu | News and features | University of Bristol. University of Bristol, May 20, 2019. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/may/medieval-peasant-diet.html#:~:text=Thefindingsdemonstratedthatstews,importantroleintheirdiet. Wu, Xiaohong, Chi Zhang, Paul Goldberg, David Cohen, Yan Pan, Trina Arpin, and Ofer Bar-Yosef. “Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China.” Science 336, no. 6089 (2012): 1696–1700. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41585168. Image Citations: Unknown "Brouet Medieval" 14th cent. Painting. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brouet_mdival.jpg [accessed April 3rd 2023] LEK, V.D. “Dorpsgezicht - Spaarndam” Dec 1968, photograph. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorpsgezicht_-_Spaarndam_-_20202969_-_RCE.jpg [accessed April 3rd, 2023] Blake, James “Powell River Aerial 2004” 28 October 2004. Photograph. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Powell_River_Aerial_2004.jpg [accessed April 3rd, 2023] Weaver, Logan "Ice Hockey players on Ice Hockey Stadium" 3 February 2020. Photograph. https://unsplash.com/photos/GXQP77GIsIU [accessed April 3rd, 2023] Spencer-Spreeuw, Rosalee “Oma’s Soup Ingredients” 2 April 2023. Photograph. Used with the author’s permission. Jorg "Maggie Advertisement" N.D. Image. https://pixabay.com/photos/maggi-soup-spice-cook-kitchen-3773966/ [accessed April 3rd, 2023]
