A Tale About Soup

I was thinking of the story of Stone Soup this morning, while waiting for my new slow cooker to come. I've been looking through so many cookbooks and finding recipes on the internet and ran across this old story. It goes like this: In Eastern Europe after the war there was a great famine. People were hoarding what food that they had. There was a soldier traveling through town and asked about where he could eat. The townspeople all told him that there was nothing to eat and he had better move on. He told them, as he pulled a kettle out of his pack, that he was thinking of making some soup for all of them to share. The townspeople hadn't had soup in a long time and were anxious to try his soup. The soldier took a simple stone from his pocket and put it in the water. He heated it over the fire and bent down to take a whiff and then stuck his finger in to sample. "Ahhh he said very good, but it would taste so much better with a little cabbage." One of the villagers brought out a cabbage to add to the soup. He then tasted it again...."Mmmmmm it's really good, but it would taste better with a little meat."Another villager offered some meat from his hoard....and on and on with carrots, potatoes, onions etc. The soup was shared and wonderful. The villagers wanted to buy his "magic stone." The soldier told them this...The moral of the story is that by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved. This story was told to us in Church many years ago. We had, what our pastor called, Stone Soup Sunday. All the parishioners brought something to add to the soup pot. The broth was on the big cast iron stove before Church started and as people came in...they dropped off their contribution in the kitchen. Everything was added to the pot. The soup cooked while we had our Church service and later in the day we all came back for our version of "Stone Soup" Along with breads of all kinds and a yummy dessert...the soup was the hit of the dinner. Don't we all love potluck dinners...where everyone contributes something? That's why funeral dinners and Church suppers are so good. There are wonderful cookbooks from Churches. Just about every Church event has a cookbook to sell, it seems. I can't resist them. My Mom and I collected them from lots of craft sales. Soup will be the first recipe that I will try. Hmmmm... now where did I put that stone?

Balisha :)