People probably began cooking broths as soon as they learned how to make clay pots and mud vessels.

The evolution of soup has had an extraordinary effect on meal planning. For the Chinese, the Romans, the French and those in other countries, soup became a specialty. Each area developed its own creations and unique flavors by using local produce.

In the 19th century condensed soups were developed. In the 20th century the Ramen noodle came to the market.

Today, women are twice as likely to order soup for lunch as men. Americans eat more than 10 billion bowls of soup each year with tomato, cream of mushroom and chicken noodle soup being the most popular. How grateful the culinary world should be remembering the earliest archaeological evidence of soup consumption was hippopotamus soup.

We don’t have a recipe for hippopotamus here, but we do offer from favorite soups from our files, and from our staff.

A GOOD TIDBIT FOR ANY SOUP

If soup tastes very salty, a raw piece of ...