I never want to eat a meal of any single taste or texture, even if the taste is delicious. You need to at least have veggies and dip or crackers or any thing to go on the side.

Yes, pho and Wonton mein are definitely meals for our Asian family. Plus a ton of other soups like Sinigang, tinola, bun bo hue, etc.

Soup can be a meal depending on what kind it is. I think it needs to have some kind of protein to count as a meal, though. For example, I would consider chicken noodle, clam chowder, or beef stew a meal, whereas I would think of tomato soup or cream of broccoli as an appetizer/side. I would tend to serve soup with some sort of starch (bread, cornbread, saltine crackers). A side salad isn’t really necessary, but it can be a nice addition to round out the meal.

He might accept heartier soups like stews, chowder, and chili as a meal. There’s also a wonderful recurring thread about soup that might give you some new ideas:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/411979.page

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soup needs a sandwich on the side or some sort of bread to suck up all the liquid.

Soup is a drink without bread.

You can also use a spoon to handle the liquid fraction.

LOL. If you're having trouble, PP flip your spoon over. The liquid goes in the concave part. Best of luck to you my friend.

In our house, soup tends to be more of a lunch meal. However, I decided to make and serve deviled eggs last night with the gumbo I had made a few days ago. That, along with rice and cornbread, made everyone happy-even my DH!

In my household, meaty chili or a hearty, protein packed stew or chowder are a meal, but may still be accompanied by some type of bread or crackers. Tomato or butternut squash soup would only be part of a meal. Matzoh ball soup is just the first course at Seders. One of my kids craves miso soup when she has a cold because she finds it comforting. We’re not fans of chicken noodle soup or minestrone and I don’t make French onion soup. I’ve never made gazpacho, but I’d be open to it as part of a meal.

Anonymous wrote:DH is not at all a soup person or so he proclaims. I’d love to start doing soups family style for dinner.

Is soup a standalone meal? Does soup need salad or other food to balance it out as a meal?

I think it depends on the soup, but I think some kind of bread and salad or crudités balance it out nicely, we often add a small selection of cheese. The nice thing is these all lend themselves nicely to meal prep, so they’re easily used for more than one meal.

We do a lot of soup as the weather gets colder, including more “meal” soups with meat and/ or legumes (often beans). I almost always offer a side vegetable, bread (differs in the type of soup), and cheese. None of these are a separate course, just something in addition to the soup.

fwiw, I’m one of those crazy people that often has fruit on the table too.

Anonymous wrote:Soup needs a sandwich on the side or some sort of bread to suck up all the liquid.

Soup is a drink without bread.

You can also use a spoon to handle the liquid fraction.

Soup needs a sandwich on the side or some sort of bread to suck up all the liquid.

Soup is a drink without bread.

Anonymous wrote:Would chilli count as soup?

Depends on how it's made. I make mine a bit soupy, but I've had chili that has little to no liquid. You can eat it with a fork.

Anonymous wrote:Like Elaine Benes said, if it's consomme, no. If it's a heartier soup, yes.

Bania disagrees.

Would chilli count as soup?