I saw a guy at the airport Chili's put ketchup on his chicken noodle soup and honestly? I get it.

This was at O'Hare, gate B12, around 7 PM last Tuesday. I was stuck with a 4 hour delay and got some soup. The dude next to me, looked tired as hell, just squirted a big red swirl of Heinz right into his bowl. My first thought was 'that's nasty,' but then I actually thought about it. That salty, tomato-y tang cuts through the bland broth and makes it way more interesting. It's basically just adding umami. People dunk grilled cheese in ketchup, so why is soup any different? It's a comfort move for when you need your food to have a bigger punch. Has anyone else secretly done this, or am I about to start a war in the comments?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah53120d ago

My grandma used to put a spoonful of tomato paste in her chicken soup while it cooked. Same idea, just a different step in the process. That guy was just doing a quick fix on some bland airport food.

coray7020d ago

That "quick fix on some bland airport food" is the whole story, isn't it? My dad, @sarah531, would just shake a ton of black pepper into any soup he thought was weak. Sometimes you just need that one thing to make a meal taste like home, even in a weird place.

the_jenny19d ago

Totally get that. A little hot sauce fixes most sad airport meals for me.