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Italy has the most number of vegetable soups in the world.

By on August 4, 2021

Taste Atlas, an online gastronomic database with a listing of 10,000 international foods, has ranked 161 traditional vegetable soups from all over the world. Of the 161 different soups ranked on its database, 22 on the list are Italy’s regional vegetable soups, 10 are Poland’s, 9 are Spain’s, 8 are Czech Republic’s and Romania’s, 7 are Greece’s, and 5 are France’s. The rest of the countries had entries lower than 5.

Of the 22 Italian vegetable soups, Fagiolata was ranked no. 5 best soup in the world by culinary professionals, food connoisseurs and international diners.

Fagiolata, Italy’s traditional thick bean soup currently has a rating of 4.7 stars out of 5. It is a hearty soup using red, black, barlotti, cannellini or any bean variety, slowly simmered and seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Sinigang, the Philippine’s iconic sour and savoury soup tops the “Best” list with 4.8 stars out of 5. The soup traditionally uses tamarind as souring agent. However,  guava or raw mango have been added as acceptable substitutes. It is prepared with vegetables and a choice of pork, milkfish, chicken or shrimp.

Latvia’s Skābeņu zupa, was rated 4.7 as the world’s second best soup.The traditional Latvian sorrel soup is cooked with beef stock, sorrel leaves, pearl barley, onions, potatoes, lemon juice, hard-boiled eggs and sour cream as garnishing. Latvian cuisine has been influenced by other countries of the Baltic rim thus, Belarus, Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, etc.. each have their own version of the sorrel soup.

The Nigerians generally love their soup thick. It is no surprise that the Ogbono soup was named after ogbono seeds, a plant-based thickener unique to the country. This West African soup with a spicy, nutty flavor places third on the best ranking with a 4.7 rating. The soup typically seasoned with meat  and/or fish extract, chili pepper and vegetables, is traditionally eaten with pounded yam, also known as fufu.

Kürbissuppe of Austria received 4.6 stars out of 5 which makes it the world’s 4th best on the list. While it is essentially a pumpkin potage, the Austrian version is prepared by sauteeing the vegetables first before it is simmered in water, chicken stock, or beef broth, and then puréed. The purée soup is usually made from boiled pumpkin, milk or poppy seeds, millet and pepper and served with pancakes. A more refined version is flavored with parmesan and roasted parsley with butter, herbs, milk and toasted bread toppings.

Other soups on the “Best” category with a 4.5 rating include Ciorba de praz (Romania), Caldo gallego (Spain), Sopa Tarasca (Mexico), Ciorba de fasole (Romania), Vichyssoise (France), Lablabi (Tunisia), Fasolada (Greece), Sayur Asem (Indonesia), Saltibarssciai (Lithuania) and Auksta zupa (Latvia).

The “Great” category (rating of 4 to 4.4 stars) includes Bessara soup (Morocco), Sayur lodeh (Indonesia), Fakes (Greece), Borscht (Ukraine) and Caldo verde (Portugal).

Asian soups in Taste Atlas’s ranking  include China, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Philippines, China and Vietnam. Japan’s miso soup was in the database but did not make it to the ranking.

Taste Atlas is an interactive database of foods from around the world, its ingredients, as well as restaurant reviews by food critics.

 

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