Soup

Lawrence Toppman

One of the few predictable things about weight loss is soup. It's nutritional (unless you melt ice cream and pour in a little chocolate sauce and call that "consomme"). It warms you on a cold day, but you can also eat it in summer. And unless it's loaded with butter and cream, it fills you without packing on the calories.

Soup has been my fallback, as it was on Thanksgiving Day this year. My main course was squash and potato soup (with a whole-milk base, a luxury at my house) and an apple cut up in yogurt on the side. We didn't go overboard with side dishes this year, and of course turkey-slaying is a thing of the distant past for us vegetarians. For dessert, I had a piece of zucchini bread.

To my surprise, I didn't miss either the bulk or the hoopla. Why should holidays -- a time for sharing love, plans, memories and dreams -- have turned into a time for sharing gluttonous behavior? Are we expressing our fondness for the cook by stuffing ourselves? Are we "giving thanks" for prosperity by cramming our maws with food?

That doesn't make sense to me. So I think future Thanksgivings may be marked more by meditation than munching, if my wife goes along with this. It's actually easier to think about things that matter to you on a not-quite-full stomach.