Many cases of ill-health demand that the meals should be as dry as possible. Having granted this, it will be admitted that there is quite a proper place for soups in ordinary everyday food reform catering.

The chief objection to ordinary soups is that they are made on a basis of meat stock and flavoured with one of various “meat extract” preparations. Meat stock, meat gravy and meat extract all alike represent the least desirable elements in flesh food, namely, the acids and tissue-wastes of the living animal at the moment of its death—acids and tissue-debris which were on their way to normal excretion via the lymph channels, veins, etc.

It is therefore only common-sense to avoid such soup-bases, especially as the most excellent soups can be made without recourse to any animal product.

The juices of vegetables, being rich in alkaline “salts” and other organic elements, are the natural cleansing agents in a rational diet. Hence to obtain a maximum remedial effect, vegetable soup should be taken in the form of a clear, unflavoured broth, quite apart from the solid meals, and preferably on retiring. But for the dinner or supper soup, some richness of flavour and creaminess of substance are pleasing and legitimate.

The following recipes explain, first, how to prepare vegetable “stock,” and then how to make rich, creamy nourishing soups, on the basis of that “stock.” Each recipe will, of course, suggest variations.

How To Make Vegetable Stock.

Put any fresh vegetables in season in a large stewpot—being careful not to include overmuch cabbage or other coarse green leaves, as these give a rather strong flavour—with a quart or more of water, cover, and simmer gently for at least two hours. The outer leaves discarded when preparing vegetables for the table, the stalks and stems, and the peelings of apples, potatoes, etc., should all be used for stock, care being taken, of course, to cleanse them well first, cutting out any insect-eaten or decayed parts.

Almond Cream Soup.

Mix two tablespoonfuls of fine wholemeal or good “standard” flour into a smooth paste with a little water, add this to the hot stock (as above), and stir till soup is thickened. Just before serving stir in a tablespoonful of Almond Cream (either “P.R.” or Mapleton's).

The addition of the almond cream gives the above a nutritive value, apart from the tonic and cleansing elements in the stock.

Nourishing Artichoke Soup.

Pare, scrub and cut into small pieces, 1 lb. of artichokes and put immediately into a pan with a pint of water or milk and water. Boil till soft, then rub through a wire sieve, using a wooden spoon. Put back in pan, add a little more water, a little chopped parsley, and a small piece of butter (or nut butter). Bring to the boil, stirring well; stir in a tablespoonful of Pinekernel Cream (“P.R.” or Mapleton's), and serve at once.

Leek And Celery Soup.

Put four well-cleansed medium-sized leeks (cut up small), the outer parts of a head of celery (chopped), a quart of water and 2 oz. unpolished Japan rice, into a pan and simmer for two hours. Rub through wire sieve, return to pan, bring to the boil, and serve.

This soup is not so much nutritive as cleansing and antiseptic.