An ode to chicken soup: the international symbol for love.
This edition of the Brodo Book Club is brought to you by chicken soup: arguably, the only comfort food that is so versatile—the entire world agrees upon its healing properties. The Chicken Soup Manifesto by Jenn Louis is a beautiful, insightful journey into the various interpretations of chicken soup from around the globe. From Algeria to Panama, and Indonesia to Greece; Louis recounts regional recipes from nearly every corner of the world.
Here’s what stands out:
THIS ONE’S FOR A TRULY GLOBAL CITIZEN
Louis captures quintessential regional comfort dishes from 60+ countries, without watering down the recipes for her American audience.
If you’re searching for Egg Drop Soup or Chicken Tortilla Stew in the index: you won’t find much. What you will uncover are esoteric recipes for dishes typically passed down only orally, within family bloodlines. Some of our favorite pages include a Northern Thai recipe for Khao Soi (…so, so smooth), and a Southern Spanish rendition of Sopa de Picadillo (…incredibly hearty).
AS MUCH A COOKBOOK AS IT IS A HISTORY LESSON
This book does a fantastic job of marrying cultural education with functional recipes. After reading just the first few pages of text, we found ourselves sucked into Louis’s anecdotes of regional idiosyncrasies—like, why Tunisians prefer orzo over freekeh (a more traditional North African grain staple).
THE TEXT IS ROOTED IN FAMILY
In the book’s introduction: we’re introduced to chicken soup as Louis’s nostalgic healer. Louis’s sister surprises her with a hot pot of chicken broth, after Louis develops a cold during a grueling day of travel. The soup not only relieves the author’s symptoms; but it also brings her back to the warm, caring place of her Jewish childhood home.
She describes the moment of soup-filled surprise as, “one of the most loving things anyone has ever done for me.” This line really hit home for us.
At Brodo, we spend crazy amounts of time making broth from scratch and then freezing it—just like our grandmothers did. We do this to make moments of love and nostalgia more accessible.
Learn More
The Chicken Soup Manifesto is available on Amazon. You can also find our very own Brodo cookbook here, with more healing broth recipes and stories from our head chef and founder Marco Canora.
Brodo bone broth is made the traditional way, with real meaty bones and fresh whole-cut organic vegetables. We spend the time to make broth the way Grandma intended, so that you can simply heat and enjoy. Get our bone broths shipped to your door today.
