It’s still winter... and it’s still cold outside. Maybe you’re daydreaming about something to warm you up after a long day out in those ever-colder temperatures. So why not turn that dream into a reality? What could be better than a hot soup – a dish that’s both delicious and healthy? In recent years, since attention to health and wellness has grown in general, soup has retaken its spot in the limelight (whose origins date back to the before even 2000 BC). Once considered merely a poor “peasant’s” dish, soup is so loved today that people are even celebrating it! In the US, today is National Soup Day!
A dish loved by the stars (and normal people, too)
Soup was also the main dish served in this year’s edition of the Golden Globes: for the first time in history, a vegan menu was served during the gala dinner. And then there are the celebrities that include "soup" as a main element in their personalized diets says “Hello Magazine.” Celebs like Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively and Meghan Markle say that soup is an essential part of their nutritional eating habits! And Cristiano Rinaldo’s favorite style of soup?
Instagram @Cristiano Ronaldo
He loves bean soup while Gwyneth Paltrow says she usually goes for a wonton soup! And they’re not the only ones; Olivia Wilde, knowing fellow actress and friend Jennifer Lawrence’s love for soup, sent her some to help her get over a cold. Sweet, right? By now, soup has so many devoted followers that Instagram is full of over 8 million recipes, photos and posts on the subject! We’re just saying, it’s a pretty big deal.
Soup is good for you
Thanks to soup’s need for many different kinds of vegetables in most recipes, soup helps eliminate toxins that accumulate in the body and it happens to facilitate the natural function of the liver and kindeys, too, according to a study done by Pennsylvania State University. And that's not all: a recent study performed by the American Journal of Epidemiology found that soup, as part of a healthy and balanced diet, actually stimulates brain activities and prevents their decay.
Expert Luca Piretta, gastroenterologist and nutritionist in Rome at the Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, weighs in on soup and its benefits: "Soups are one of the healthiest dishes and one of the tastiest ways to eat vegetables, and this may be the best way to allow the intake of vitamins, minerals and fiber (the consumption of which is usually below the recommended amount), even for young people who do not follow a vegetarian diet.” "The secret of soup lies in consuming those vitamins and minerals that (being water-soluble) would be lost in the cooking water, and they instead remain available in the liquid part. There is no better time to have soup, even if tradition says to consume it in the evening to satiate hunger without exceeding calories and therefore allowing for a more peaceful sleep,” states Piretta. Moreover, soup is easily digestible; it is a goldmine for fiber (that increases the feeling of fullness); and it even regulates intestinal motility and slows down the absorption of fat and sugar, says Valentina Schirò, nutritionist biologist who specializes in food science.
Paired with wine
Soup can also be accompanied by a good glass of wine. "A Tuscan-style spelt soup can be paired with an aromatic Gewürztraminer, perhaps the Joseph from the J. Hofstaetter Estate: a wine that has a lot of structure and body," explains Francesca Negri, journalist and founding writer of Geoshagourmet.com and Sabrage Academy. "[Puréed] mushroom soup with porcini mushrooms is perfect to enjoy with a Lugana, perhaps a bottle of I Frati di Ca' dei Frati or the Menasasso di Selva Capuzza. Finally, with a vegetable soup (one of the great classics of soup), I would pair it with a Chardonnay: perhaps La Fuga di Donnafugata that features spicy tones and scents of peach, custard and saffron; or a rosé, the Rosamati of Fattoria Le Pupille, which smells of fruits, pepper, geraniums and red flowers, leaving an aromatic acidity on the tongue that should be perfect with this kind of recipe.”