Soup

Soup is a savoury liquid food that is made by boiling ingredients, such as meat, vegetables and beans in stock or hot water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth. Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of containers about 5,000 years ago, so soups presumably were little-known before that time.

Soup as a figure of speech

In the English language, the word "soup" has developed several phrasal uses.

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• Alphabet soup is a term often used to describe a large amount of acronyms used by an administration, and has its roots in a common tomato-based soup containing pasta shaped in the letters of the alphabet.
• Primordial soup is a term used to describe the organic mixture leading to the development of life.
• A soup kitchen is a place that serves prepared food of any kind to the homeless.
• Pea soup describes a thick or dense fog.
• "Stone soup" is a popular children's fable.