Soup

Hello friends!

I’ve been encouraged to provide my Soup powerpoint (circa 2022) in a more easily accessible location, so I’ve converted it to blog post form. Enjoy!

bean soup

or becoming a better person through soup

(Updated Spring 2023)

I’m going to break it down, easy as soup.

What I do
Small consequences
Deep rewards

1. What I do

I buy vegetables from farmers’ markets when available, or from grocery stores, or I am gifted them by the farm I volunteer at
I buy beans, grains, nuts and spices plastic-free from bulk bins/chutes
- Neighborhood Produce (Ball Sq, Winter Hill) for everything
- Whole Foods in a pinch (limited varieties of rice, beans, and nuts)
- Elmendorf Baking (regional beans + grains)
I cook soup a couple times a week

Dry beans, 2-3 cups dry	Leafy greens, 1-2 bunches	Other vegetables, 1-3 cups	Aromatics	Flavor	Topping
Lentils, split peas, [insert color] beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, soybeans	Kale, colllard, spinach, chard, cabbage, broccoli, carrot tops, beet tops	potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, beet, carrot, celery, tomato, eggplant, mushroom, peppers, green beans	Onion, garlic, fresh hot peppers	Spices, salt, nutritional yeast, vinegar, lemon/lime, soy sauce	Nuts, seeds, fresh herbs, get artistic

The formula and examples of the variables

15-20 minutes active time:

If using big beans (not lentils), soak them in water ~8 hours in advance. Otherwise you have to pressure cook for so long that the veggies will disintegrate (which is fine if you like mush)
Wash and dice veggies
Optional: fry the onion, garlic, and spices in some oil
Throw everything in, add water to the max
Cook on high pressure. 5 minutes for split red lentils, 20 minutes for soaked beans or whole lentils, 45 minutes for unsoaked big beans
Let pressure decrease safely before opening
Re-spice to taste, add water as needed for desired consistency, garnish
Bon appetit

Tips

Don’t under-season!!! (I am often guilty of this easily solved problem)
Finish with lemon juice, chopped herbs, toasted nuts, croutons, etc
Include a starchy vegetable or a handful of split lentils for creaminess
Reserve de-stemmed leafy greens, mix them into the hot soup at the end, rest with lid on to lightly cook them
- Helps to save space in the pressure cooker for more other things
- Helps to avoid overcooking greens like kale. Definitely do this with spinach.
- Also do this with minced aromatics or any other vegetable if you like them on the raw side
beet makes fun pink
“Oh no! My soup came out bland and sad!” THAT IS EASILY SOLVED: try adding more salt, spices, nuts, acids like lemon and vinegar, nuts/seeds or their butters
Reducing food waste: lots of bitter and fibrous things can be cooked into submission by the power of the pressure cooker. I add minced lemon rinds and kale stems.
Energy/space saving tip: you can add dry farro to the soup right after its done (take some soup out to eat first if you want), put the lid back on, and it will fully cook in the residual heat after 1-2 hours. This probably also works with other similarly quick-cooking grains.
Generally, the more vegetable variety, the better the taste! It’s almost magical

Recipes?

I look up recipes for ideas on what beans/vegetables/spices to combine

basically any recipe that has flavors, you can adapt into a bean soup

examples of recipes I’d use as inspiration:

My incredibly unpolished, rarely updated personal recipe book. Read at your own risk.

How I typically plan a soup

If I plan at all…

The highlight reel

2. immediate effects

It’s delicious
I generate less to no pollution (plastic packaging)
I save money (~$2.5/meal)
I save time cooking
I become a better cook

3. deep rewards

I act on my values every day, which feels good
- polluting less
- not eating animal products
I become someone who cares about my values enough to change something core to my life. (in this case, what I eat)
I support better businesses and the people who do them
I’m happier and healthier
I can share these values with other people by cooking for them!

Obligatory downsides

In spirit of good epistemics or whatever, I’ll also point out the downsides since nothing in life is perfect

Downsides:

I have to plan somewhat in advance to have all the ingredients when I need them, it’s not like I can snap my fingers and grocery shopping is done.
Other people are sometimes gastrointestinally intimidated by the bean quantity, which does take some time to adapt to
Sometimes I get bored of soup! That is normal and fine!!!
Sometimes I make a soup that isn’t very good (undercooked is hard to fix because if you pressure cook it again it might burn)
I haven’t had cauliflower in like 2 years because I haven’t found it not wrapped in plastic anywhere. Will be checking farmer’s markets harder this year
Sometimes the soup looks like a muddy sludge (thank you black beans and purple cabbage) which is not very attractive to show other people

Thank you

Feel free to talk to me about beans
I will not find it weird if you bring it up out of the blue
You’re also welcome to stop by and sample whatever soup I have on tap

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone who runs a store that supplies food package-free, including the folks at all the stores I listed above and also in New York, 4th St Co-op, Creative Health Food Store, and many more.

Reading Josh Spodek’s posts about his soups and commitment to live without food packaging, inspired me to make even tastier and less polluting soups. See his blog here

Lastly thanks to all my friends and family who have eaten my soup. Sorry if it wasn’t very good sometimes. I know you were being polite. I’m still learning.

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