Soul-nourishing soups for the warmer months

A love-letter to Eastern European culture of soup making + my go-to recipes for 3 soups

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Making soup is an act of love—love and care for yourself and those around you. The very act of cooking a soup feels deeply healing, restorative, and nourishing. You feel like a sorceress stirring a pot, as though it contained a magical potion with the power to comfort and soothe. We all treasure some special soup-memories: the soup our grannies made when we were unwell, the soup our mothers made to nourish and celebrate us as we became mothers ourselves, or the bowl of soup you place in front of your child as their face lights up after a hard day at school. Whatever the occasion, the memory of soups holds a sacred place in our hearts, no matter which part of the world we come from.

To me, soups are quintessentially Eastern European. Their very essence is emblematic of an entire food philosophy: low-waste, resourceful, inexpensive batch-cooking that packs a meal with nutrients and never compromises on flavour.

Growing up in a Jewish-Ukrainian-Russian household, I was lucky to always have delicious, wholesome soups on any given day of the year. My mother, Olga, always prides herself on the fact that you would always find soup in her fridge—and if not, there’d be one simmering away on the stove. My childhood is filled with the sights and scents of dill-infused soups: a simple chicken, carrot, and potato soup in winter would turn into the uniquely tangy sorrel and egg soup of spring, while in summer there would always be okroshka—a fresh, herbaceous cold soup with kvass or kefir. It was the symbol of the turning seasons.

Indeed, while many might associate soup with hearty winter meals—and rightly so—Eastern European cuisine boasts an abundance of seasonal broths, stews, and soups, as diverse as the produce available throughout the year. Thick hearty stews, crystal-clear broths, cold summer soups bursting with fresh herbs and crunchy vegetables, and sweet dessert or breakfast soups laced with honey, cinnamon, berries, and milk. No ingredient is left aside when it comes to Eastern European soup-making: fresh and fermented vegetables, grains and pulses, meat, fish and poultry, fresh fruit, berries and herbs—not to mention the array of spices! If you ever wanted to liven up your soup repertoire, I’m here to help.

Through this Substack, you’ll find a steady stream of soups, and I hope these posts will help expand your understanding of the role a plate of soup can play on your table. It can be the real heart and soul of a family meal on a weekend, but equally a much-needed comfort for a solo meal at the end of a busy day. And, as always, it can open a window onto a whole new world of culinary stories and traditions.

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RECIPES

As I live in the UK, I never know what the ‘warmer months’ will bring. Unlike in Eastern Europe, where you’re pretty much guaranteed a stable warm summer (with some variations, of course), the UK always surprises us with its unpredictable weather. So here I have three soups that cover just about every variation of the British ‘summer’ we’re likely to experience. We have a warm but vibrantly green and zingy chicken soup, a chlodnik that is uber-satisfying on a hot day but could also double up as a warm beetroot soup if needed, and a no-cook chilled okroshka.

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Soup with Chicken Frikadelki

Grandma’s soup. These two simple words have the instant power to cocoon us in a warm sense of comfort. This is the ultimate staple in any Eastern European baba’s repertoire, and I can’t think back to childhood without conjuring up the soup served in my gran’s Soviet-era soup plate with a gilded brim. While this dish is more of a winter comfort food, I wanted to create a greener, summer version, adding some peas and lemon zest to the meatballs.

Make sure to serve the soup with plenty of cracked black pepper and a sprinkling of fresh dill (I’m sure you knew that anyway, given the fact you’re reading an Eastern European-themed Substack!).