The Importance of Soup
Our cooking classes have started up again. Since everyone has flu on the brain I thought we’d start off with the best defense — soup! Details are below. But first, a few words about the health benefits:
This class to me is really about the basis of all cuisine: homemade stock. In some cultures that’s chicken, fish, beef, or vegetable stock. Many of the world’s chefs have said "It’s all in the stock." And it’s very true. If you can make a good stock and a good soup, you are well on your way to becoming a gourmet chef. And a very health-minded one at that!
Some researchers have pointed to the absence of stock-based dishes as the reason for so much inflammation (as in diabetes, heart disease, arthritis), in our culture. Especially in America where we have gotten far away from our agrarian roots when people used to grow nearly all their own food — including poultry and meats — and use every part of the beast in their cooking. Simmering bones to make broth releases many minerals and nutrients necessary for strong bones and a healthy immune system.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
This is what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say and chicken soup’s benefits: "In some cultures, chicken soup has long been a traditional cold remedy. Maimonides, the Jewish physician and philosopher, even recommended it back in the 12th century. But there’s more than folk wisdom at work here. At least one scientific study suggests that a steaming bowl of chicken soup affords more than comfort - although it’s important not to sell comfort short. Hot liquids in general can be soothing, if only because they require you to slow down, sit still, and sip patiently in order to consume them without scalding yourself. What’s more, a study published in the journal Chest in 1978 showed that sipping both chicken soup and hot water can help clear clogged nasal passages."
The best scientific evidence so far for chicken soup’s cold-fighting capacity, however, comes from a study at the University of Nebraska where researchers exposed neutrophils, the white blood cells that fight infections but also cause inflammation, to diluted chicken broth. The liquid slowed the movement of the cells, suggesting that in the body chicken soup can do the same thing. The result, if you have a cold, would be relief of some symptoms.
So, as we head into the dreaded flu season, we can all benefit from eating more delicious, simple-to-prepare soup dishes made with homemade stock.
Honest Farm Wellness Cooking Class: The Importance of Soup
Class date: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Time: 6 pm to 8:30 pm
Place: Midway Christian Church
123 East Bruen Street
Midway, KY 40347
Cost: $25 per person, includes meal and materials
Phone: (859) 533-6976
Soups include (this is a hands-on class):
Vegetarian Butternut Squash-Ginger Soup
French Onion Soup
Provençal Chicken-Vegetable Soup (Soupe au Pistou)
The meal will include bread, salad and dessert. Students need to bring an apron, medium-size cutting board and a chef’s knife.
When is the next cooking class? I just found your website, it is very interesting and put together very nicely too.
Jill
Comment by Jill Hampton — November 28, 2009 @ 6:49 PM