Section, therefore, is to acquaint the housewife with the details of
soup making, so that she may provide her family with appetizing and
nutritious soups that make for both economy and healthfulness.

2. It is interesting to note the advancement that has been made with
this food. The origin of soup, like that of many foods, dates back to
practically the beginning of history. However, the first soup known was
probably not made with meat. For instance, the mess of pottage for which
Esau sold his birthright was soup made of red lentils. Later on meat
came to be used as the basis for soup because of the agreeable and
appetizing flavor it provides. Then, at one time in France a scarcity of
butter and other fats that had been used to produce moistness and
richness in foods, brought about such clear soups as bouillon and
consomme. These, as well as other liquid foods, found much favor, for
about the time they were devised it came to be considered vulgar to chew
food. Thus, at various periods, and because of different emergencies,
particular kinds of soup have been introduced, until now there are many
kinds from which the housewife may choose when she desires a dish that
will start a meal in the right way and at the same time appeal to
the appetite.

3. VALUE OF SOUP IN THE MEAL.--Not all persons have the same idea
regarding the value of soup as a part of a meal. Some consider it to be
of no more value than so much water, claiming that it should be fed to
none but children or sick persons who are unable to take solid food. On
the other hand, many persons believe that soup contains the very essence
of all that is nourishing and sustaining in the foods of which it is
made. This difference of opinion is well demonstrated by the ideas that
have been advanced concerning this food. Some one has said that soup is
to a meal what a portico is to a palace or an overture to an opera,