General / Off-Topic Is cereal soup?

[Dimitri]

Full disclosure, just listened to the Proof podcast on this (Is Cereal Soup) and it got me thinking about it, so I figure, post it up and see what everyone thinks.

Personally, like they say in the podcast, I was all against the idea of my fruity pebbles being considered a soup, but when you really think about it, it kinda is.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

Is a cup of Tea soup?

 

[Demascus]

Or is chicken noodle cereal? These are the question for our generation that need answering!

 

[Flimley]

Is soup..... cereal ?

Flimley

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

The difference between cake and biscuits is if you leave both to go stale, biscuits go soft, cake goes hard.

I understand this has nothing to do with the question and I do apologise for that but it is one of my principles to crowbar this fact into any conversation I can.

 

[Speedcuffs]

The difference between cake and biscuits is if you leave both to go stale, biscuits go soft, cake goes hard.

I understand this has nothing to do with the question and I do apologise for that but it is one of my principles to crowbar this fact into any conversation I can.

Soup is jaffa cakes.

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

Soup is jaffa cakes.

Going to use that as a password somewhere.

 

[Manticore]

No; next question.....

 

[Robert Maynard]

If cereal were to be classified as something other than itself then, in my opinion, it's closer to a dessert than a soup.

Generalising, soup is a savoury dish whereas a dessert is a sweet dish - so cereal, tending to sweet rather than savoury, would be closer to the latter rather than the former.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

Is soup..... cereal ?

Flimley

That made me giggle.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

If cereal were to be classified as something other than itself then, in my opinion, it's closer to a dessert than a soup.

Generalising, soup is a savoury dish whereas a dessert is a sweet dish - so cereal, tending to sweet rather than savoury, would be closer to the latter rather than the former.

But a cereal is any grass cultivated (grown) for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal

Would savoury soup with croutons added, be a cereal dish?

Scots Eat Porridge with water and salt, no sugar or milk... Is that a soup?

There is a chinese Soup called Tong sui which is Sweet and served as a dessert. But it is classified as a soup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_sui

playing devil's advocate here.

 

[Dimitri]

But a cereal is any grass cultivated (grown) for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal

Would savoury soup with croutons added, be a cereal dish?

Scots Eat Porridge with water and salt, no sugar or milk... Is that a soup?

There is a chinese Soup called Tong sui which is Sweet and served as a dessert. But it is classified as a soup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_sui

playing devil's advocate here.

Now we're talking. I find it interesting how the idea of something being sweet came up first, I'd assumed it would be that cereal is traditionally (in the US) a cold "soup". Anyway, other examples I thought about were tomato soup, which is usually pretty sweet, and sweet potato soup. (I've also made a cold watermelon mint soup every summer, but that is more of a family thing, I'd doubt that anyone would be familiar with it.)

I also like how you folded in the grain part, nicely done.

 

[Arry]

Now we're talking. I find it interesting how the idea of something being sweet came up first, I'd assumed it would be that cereal is traditionally (in the US) a cold "soup". Anyway, other examples I thought about were tomato soup, which is usually pretty sweet, and sweet potato soup. (I've also made a cold watermelon mint soup every summer, but that is more of a family thing, I'd doubt that anyone would be familiar with it.)

I also like how you folded in the grain part, nicely done.

Are we asking the question from a U.S. opinion; or the facts?

You know, the place where trousers, are pants. The bonnet, is a hood. The boot, is the trunk and a billion, has lost 90% ,of it value.

 

[Dimitri]

Are we asking the question from a U.S. opinion; or the facts?

You know, the place where trousers, are pants. The bonnet, is a hood. The boot in the trunk and a billion, has lost 90% of it value.

I personally define cereal as a grain based, sweetened food that I usually eat with cold milk for the first meal of the day. For what I would consider for this discussion, lets go with Merriam-Webster Number 2 under noun, "a prepared foodstuff of grain (such as oatmeal or cornflakes)."

 

[Robert Maynard]

But a cereal is any grass cultivated (grown) for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal

I (possibly rather rashly) made the assumption that we were discussing cereal the breakfast dish rather than the textbook definition of cereal.

If the latter then you are, of course, correct.

If the former:

Breakfast cereal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Would savoury soup with croutons added, be a cereal dish?

That'd be soup with a savoury garnish, IMO.

Scots Eat Porridge with water and salt, no sugar or milk... Is that a soup?

Some Scots no doubt make porridge with water and salt - I prefer to make it with milk, no salt and serve with more milk.

There is a chinese Soup called Tong sui which is Sweet and served as a dessert. But it is classified as a soup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_sui

Sounds like an exception rather than the general case.

playing devil's advocate here.

Splendid.

 

[Arry]

I personally define cereal as a grain based, sweetened food that I usually eat with cold milk for the first meal of the day. For what I would consider for this discussion, lets go with Merriam-Webster Number 2 under noun, "a prepared foodstuff of grain (such as oatmeal or cornflakes)."

Oh I agree with you on the cereal part. Which is the base product, the crop, or harvest. Grains, etc..

That grain product, which is mostly served as breakfast; in the U.K. is Cereal.

The often savoury liquid that is often served, as a starter; before a main course at dinner, again; in the U.K. is soup.

How they refer to these things in the U.S. is unknown to me.

I was asking the question; in case we were, discussing this; from an American perspective.

 

[Chris Simon]

Isn't the main thing about soup that everything is boiled together?

 

[Speedcuffs]

Isn't the main thing about soup that everything is boiled together?

Hm. I think that's stew.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

I (possibly rather rashly) made the assumption that we were discussing cereal the breakfast dish rather than the textbook definition of cereal.

If the latter then you are, of course, correct.

If the former:

Breakfast cereal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That'd be soup with a savoury garnish, IMO.

Some Scots no doubt make porridge with water and salt - I prefer to make it with milk, no salt and serve with more milk.

Sounds like an exception rather than the general case.

Splendid.

I think a soup is a liquid food prepared through boiling, a soup extracts its flavor from the contents which is soaking within the broth.
So with the example of Tong sui, Its boiled and the flavour is extracted through it being stewed. The fact that it is sweet or savoury isnt the issue.
Its the method of preparation.

A breakfast cereal tends to be cold and served without heating or cooking. Although a porridge can be cooked, it is not stewed for long periods of time. (however my gandfather cooked his porridge the night before for hours and then allowed it to cool over night before warming it up again in the morning. He used water and salt ( a true Scottsman). So in that instance could a porridge be considered a stew or a soup?

A soup again is different from a stew though... Stews are thicker with ingredients clumping within, where as a soup is strained so that it is typically very thin and just the cooked liquid infused with flavour. In this instance could a cup of Tea be thought of as a soup? We boil it, allow it to brew and then strain it just for the flavour infused liquid.

 

[Dimitri]

For the sake of clarity, let's continue with Merriam-Webster definitons. For soup we would choose the first definition, "a liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food" and for stew we would use, "fish or meat usually with vegetables prepared by stewing".

In the podcast I had mentioned earlier, they point out that the soup definition says "especially" and not always or only, therefore, by that definition, cereal, as defined as a breakfast food as we all know and love, would be a soup. But it still feels weird saying that.

As for stew, it has to be from a stewed meat. So I don't think anything we are talking about as far as cereal goes qualifies.