Chicken Soup – The Jewish Penicillin

It’s about time I pay homage to the food that has shown its face in Jewish cuisine for centuries.

Chicken soup.

Some like to call it the Jewish Penicillin. Jewish mothers around the world take pride in cooking up this aromatic broth. A Friday afternoon is not the same without its’ smell pervading through the house. It even has a book named after it, “Chicken soup for the  soul”.

A little bit of history...

Soup in itself has a rich history. It utilizes one of the most basic forms of cooking – combining a bunch of foods in a pot with water to create a nutritious and filling meal with minimal effort. Easy to make, easy to digest, inexpensive – it’s no wonder soups have existed through the ages. But how did Chicken soup creep into the  Jewish traditional Friday night menu? It seems to be something we all take for granted..

To start off, there is no law in the Torah (Bible) that states we must eat chicken soup on Friday night. In fact, I’ve had Friday night dinners with pumpkin soup, corn soup, veggie soup, cold mango soup, and…you guessed it – NO SOUP AT ALL. For someone like me who has a tendency of spilling soup over myself and any other victims in proximity, it’s probably a wise idea.

Secondly, it’s not all Jews that have chicken soup on Friday night, only those with a European or Ashkenazi background.

Thirdly and finally, it seems the answer is pretty simple. The meal on Shabbat technically should involve some form of hot meat. In their thrifty nature, when Jews would cook chicken for the Friday night meal instead of discarding the bones, they would turn it into a delicious and nutritious soup. Practically speaking, soup is also easily kept warm, which is fitting for Friday night where foods cannot be heated up directly.

A Spot of Nutrition…

How did chicken soup merit it’s healing properties, analogous to penicillin?

The chicken soup-medicinal phenomena began in the 12^th century, where the Rambam (Maimonides) recommended the broth of hens and other fowl to “neutralize body constitution”. He claimed that chicken soup was curative for leprosy and asthma.

Chicken soup doesn’t have one secret ingredient, it is the combination of its ingredients that makes it so special. A typical chicken soup would include chicken (surprising, I know) with it’s bones, carrots, celery, onions, herbs (e.g. parsley, dill) and spices (salt, pepper).

Nowadays, one of chicken soups more common claimed healing powers is its effect on the common cold.

A study done on the benefits of chicken soup found that some components in the soup have an anti-inflammatory effect, which may result in reducing the symptoms of a cold. Many claim it also prevents sore throats and phlegm production, through the production of an amino acid called “cysteine”. It would seem that the Jewish mothers were onto something...

While many think of the traditional soup to be laden with fat globules on the surface, you can easily skim the congealed fat off once the soup has cooled down. The carrots in the soup contain high amounts of Vitamin A, which is useful for night vision. Unlike vegetable soups, chicken soup has a high protein content which is great for muscle development and strength. Interestingly enough, the bones from the chicken may increase the calcium content of the soup. Why drink milk if you can have a cup of chicken soup?

NOTE: Please do not replace chicken soup for milk, it probably doesn’t go well with Weetbix. I do know a certain somebody that used to take much delight in eating rice bubbles (or rice crispies for any Americans) with his chicken soup. Needless to say, I did not take up such a custom.