Soup bragging rights on the line
Everyone’s mother’s soup is the best, and if you have children, your soup will be the best.
Everyone, everywhere eats soup. Thrifty cooks make it with vegetable ends and trimmings, using up the last of the limp vegetables in the fridge. Foodies make it with farmer’s market finds and spices sourced from specialty boutiques. Even those who can’t cook make it with the help of a Campbell’s can or Lipton’s packet. And every year, thousands of people gather in Notre-Dame-del’Île-Perrot to celebrate this universal dish. The sixth annual Symbol of Openness and Union of People (S.O.U.P.) Festival will be held on Sept. 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pointe-du-Moulin Historical Park. It will feature traditional dancing by Les Éclusiers de Lachine, family oriented outdoor activities, and, of course, free samples of around two dozen varieties of soup. According to organizer Pierre Séguin, the goal of the festival is not only to sample soups from around the world, but also to get a taste of the different cultures that flavour the region. “Soup is the meal that is worldwide. There is soup in every continent, every country, every city, every house,” he said. “Everyone’s mother’s soup is the best, and if you have children, your soup will be the best.” Séguin said the Île-Perrot festival is modelled on similar events held in Europe. “We did not invent the soup festival. It was invented in France, in Lille. They were looking for a way to get the community together and welcome newcomers,” he said. “Now in all the major cities in Europe there is a soup festival.” Last year, 10 professional chefs and 15 home cooks served over 24,000 samples of soup in two hours at the local event, feeding more than 5,000 people. The chefs each prepared between 15-50 litres of soup, following family recipes from Japan, Mexico, Spain, China, Vietnam, and many other places around the world. Visitors are encouraged to vote for their favourite soups, with professional chefs vying for the prized Golden Ladle in the Chef ’s Toque competition, while home cooks compete in Soup Mania. So far this year, 22 people have signed up to bring soup, but Séguin is expecting more entries in the coming days. Participants can register online or by phone right up until the day before the festival. The soup is enticing, but the real goal is to get people talking to each other, Séguin said. Icebreakers abound: people talk about which soups deserve the Golden Ladle and strike up conversations while waiting in line, watching their children play in the sandbox, joining in outdoor group games or obstacle courses or touring the historic mill on site. “It’s the only place where you wait in line with a smile,” Séguin said. For more information about the festival, call 514-453-9530 or visit www.festivaldelasoupe.ca.