MONSTER ALLEY/FEBRUARY WRITING CHALLENGE
Soup Means Love
A good soup means love, warmth, and security to me
I can think of so many times when I got soup and felt cared for and loved. Times when I was sick when I was younger. Times when it was colder and my mom wanted to warm us up with a warm, delicious soup. Soup is deeply comforting and always feels like love especially when it’s delicious.
I’m thinking about this currently because I haven’t been feeling well lately and my partner started a hearty and thick chicken noodle soup for us in the Instant Pot a couple of days ago. He wanted to get that started as soon as possible because he knew it would not only help me feel better but also sufficiently fill our bellies up and warm us up for days or up to a week to come.
He loves cooking a ton and always finds time to make our food. I can tell he puts a lot of care and love into his cooking. The soup that he made for me this week tasted like love when I took the first bite earlier today. My tummy had been hurting and my head was dizzy but every bite brought me up from that sick and nauseous feeling and gave me enough energy to sit up and not feel as bad.
I can’t even think of a time when soup meant anything else other than love, security, and warmth. Soup is always best consumed in the winter months when it is the coldest but even cold soups can be eaten in the warmer months. I have eaten soups from all over the world and on each of those occasions, it was either a social gathering, a date with my partner, or some sort of special occasion at someone’s house.
This brings up a memory I have of my mom and I making a soup popular in the Philippines called arroz caldo. If you’ve never had it before, you’ve got to try it. It is delicious and savory. She helped teach me how to make the soup and it is a special soup that is close to her heart. The thing is, I know I was seeing her share a special part of herself with me in doing this with me and it stuck with me.
At the end of the day, the symbolism of soup to mean love, warmth, and security is very prevalent in many of our lives. Sure, some of us have had bad soups and maybe even some people who’ve traumatized certain soups for us but soup isn’t the culprit. The soup itself can unify and help us all celebrate together and share that warm feeling. What heartwarming stories around soup can you think of? Do you have any childhood memories around soup?
Thanks to The Accidental Monster for the February Writing Challenge.
Feel free to write this anywhere writing challenges are welcome. I recommend https://medium.com/monster-alley and https://medium.com/the-challenged.