Chicken Noodle Soup
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Guide to History of Chicken Noodle Soup
The Chinese have a tradition of cooking chicken soup for several days, intensifying the nutrients with herbs until it becomes more like a medicine. Soups were often given to the ill because it was thought that since the broth was thin, it would be easy to digest. In fact, the Chinese still serve soup to drink with a meal because it is believed to be unhealthy to consume cold beverages while eating.
Chicken soup has claimed a similar spot in Jewish cuisine. Sometimes known as "Jewish penicillin," chicken soup is often fed to family members who are not feeling well. Officially, in the 12th century, a physician called Moses Maimonides was the first to actually suggest chicken soup would help a patient over a cold. At one time in England, medical prescriptions were commonly given for chicken soup.
Chicken soup recipes have been included in all the earliest cookbooks. One version, from Scotland called cock-a-leekie, was published in 1598. This is still a traditional soup eaten in Scotland made from leeks and chicken. In Medieval times, the chicken was eaten separately after cooking and the broth and its contents were eaten like soup. It was originally made with chicken, onions, and prunes.
Chickens were introduced to the Americas by early settlers, who also brought their own recipes for soup. As more immigrants poured into America, the variations of chicken soup cooked there increased. Jewish recipes fill the rich golden broth with noodles, matzo balls, or dumplings known as kreplach. Chinese won ton and eggflower soups became popular. Greek populations brought over their recipes for chicken soup with eggs and lime.
As the years went by, chicken soup was consumed plain or with noodles, rice, potatoes or dumplings. Every grandmother had her own special recipe. The soup would be started on the stove and as the hours went by, it would eventually be transformed into a meal anyone could be proud of. First, each family kept their own chickens. As cities grew, flocks were grown by farmers and sold to stores. Today, most of the chicken we consume is raised by contract farmers working for large agricultural corporations. During the 20th century, new methods of processing allowed canning companies to make chicken soup. As people began buying readymade soup in a can, fewer learned the old tried and true recipes to make chicken soup.
By the mid to late 20th century, most people were happy eating canned chicken soup, though they would still rave about how wonderful the chicken soup at Grandma's or at a restaurant down the street would taste.
Today, more people are trying to get back in touch with their food. Many are learning cooking skills they would not have imagined before in the pursuit of delicious, wholesome foods. Home cooks are looking for recipes and trying to make soup from scratch again. The convenience of canned soup is still appreciated by many, but at the same time, the soup lost flavor and substance. A homemade chicken soup is still something to be cherished.
People still crave Grandma's homemade chicken soup when they are ill. Recent studies have even shown that this is one thing we have gotten right all along: chicken soup is good for what ails you. Chicken soup, science tells us, is full of zinc, which boosts the immune system. The steam from the hot soup loosens clogged nasal passages, allowing you to breathe more freely.
Irwin Ziment, a professor at the UCLA School of Medicine and a pulmonary specialist, says that chicken soup actually contains compounds that are similar to those found in modern cold medications. One of the amino acids released into chicken soup actually works like the drug acetylcysteine that is frequently prescribed for bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses. Another physician, Dr. Stephen Rennard, chief of pulmonary medicine at the University of Nebraska says that chicken soup has an anti-inflammatory effect. No wonder this delicious soup has stuck with us over thousands of years.
