Soup

Mexico

Caldo de queso is a simple Mexican soup featuring potatoes, green chilies, chicken broth, and cheese. It is important to add the cheese last in order for it to turn the soup creamy without producing large mounds of cheese in the liquid. The soup is traditionally served with fried corn tortilla chips on the side.

Caldo de queso

Ideally suited for unusually cold winters, caldo de res is a flavorful Mexican soup filled with pieces of beef and vegetables such as corn and chayote squash. As most Mexican soups, this one is also served with lime wedges and corn flour tortillas on the side. It is recommended to garnish the soup with coriander.

Caldo de res

Spain

This traditional Galician dish is hearty, inexpensive, and nourishing. Although the ingredients vary from one household to the next, this flavorful broth is most often prepared with collard greens, cabbage, turnips, potatoes, white beans, lard, and meat products such as chorizo, bacon, and ham. The dish has humble origins and is mainly associated with Spanish farmers who lived off their own produce and served the dish in traditional earthen bowls known as cuncas. Caldo gallego is typically consumed in colder months because it is always served piping hot. It is believed that the soup tastes even better when reheated the next day.

Caldo gallego

Caldo haba is a traditional dish originating from Mexico City. The dish is usually made with a combination of fava beans, garlic, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, coriander, mint, salt, and pepper. The beans, garlic, and onions are cooked in water for half an hour. The tomatoes are pur&eacute;ed and cooked with olive oil over low heat until thickened. The beans mixture is added to the tomatoes along with coriander, mint, salt, and pepper, and the dish is then boiled until the stock thickens. Caldo haba is served in individual bowls, and it&rsquo;s usually garnished with chopped mint.

Caldo haba

Caldo queso is a traditional soup originating from Baja California. It&rsquo;s usually made with a combination of potatoes, onions, cheese such as Monterey Jack, tomatoes, jalape&ntilde;os, chicken stock, corn oil, salt, and pepper. The potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and hot peppers are cooked in oil over low heat. The chicken stock is seasoned with salt and pepper and brought to a boil. Diced cheese is then stirred into the stock along with the vegetables, and the soup is then served in individual bowls while piping hot.

Caldo queso

Caldo santo is a Puerto Rican soup consisting of coconut milk, pieces of fish (marinated and fried), pumpkin, taro root, plantains, green bananas, sweet potatoes, sofrito, and achiote seeds. The soup is slowly simmered until all the vegetables become tender. Before serving, caldo santo should be left to cool down a bit. In Puerto Rico, this soup is especially popular during Holy Week.

Caldo santo

Caldo tlalpe&ntilde;o is a classic Mexican soup consisting of chicken stock, onions, garlic, spicy chipotle peppers, shredded chicken, chickpeas, and vegetables such as carrots, green beans, and zucchini. It is believed that the soup was invented in Tlalpan, Mexico City in the early 1900s, when it was filled with street vendors selling the dish near tram stations. The soup is traditionally served with avocado, limes, onions, and cheese so that anyone can season and decorate the soup according to personal preferences.

Caldo Tlalpeño

Portugal

Caldo verde is a popular soup from Portugal, consumed by most Portuguese families at home, but it is also served in some upscale restaurants. It is usually made with a combination of potatoes, collard greens, olive oil, and a dash of salt, although there are some regional variations. Traditionally, caldo verde is served with boiled and sliced chorizo sausage, although other types of meat can be used instead of it. In the north of Portugal, people sometimes use kale instead of collard greens. The dish originated in a former province called Minho, between 1936 and 1976. Today, the region is divided into two parts, Viana do Castelo and Braga. The soup is a favorite during various celebrations, weddings, and similar festivities, when it's usually served as a starter before the main meal, ideally accompanied by broa, a traditional Portuguese cornbread.

Caldo verde

Callaloo is Carribean soup made with a combination of leafy vegetables such as dasheen or spinach, coconut milk, salted meat, yams, onions, peppers, green bananas, and dumplings consisting of flour and cornmeal. Once done, callaloo is served on its own or with toasted bread and avocado slices. The soup is traditionally consumed during the carnival season, but it's also regularly prepared at local parties and in roadside bars as an energy booster.

Callaloo

Canh b&iacute; đao is a traditional winter melon soup. It's prepared with a combination of winter melon, shrimps (with added shrimps it's called canh b&iacute; đao tom), shallots, fish sauce, oil, pepper, and chicken stock. Most ingredients are crushed into a paste and fried, then cooked with winter melon in the stock seasoned with salt. Once done, the soup is served in large bowls, and it's typically garnished with chopped spring onions and cilantro. Although it looks daunting, winter melon is very mild in flavor and not bitter at all. The soup has a few variations, so pork stock can be used instead of the one made from chicken, and the soup can be additionally flavored with garlic and ground pork.

Canh bí đao

Canh b&oacute;ng is a traditional soup originating from Vietnam, and it's particularly popular in Hanoi during the Lunar New Year (Tet) celebrations. The main ingredient in the soup is dried pork rind, which is cleaned, washed with ginger juice and vinegar, dried in the sun, and roasted in order to develop bubbles on the surface. The dried rind is usually seasoned with scallions, fish sauce, ginger, and pepper, then cooked with vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms. The soup is presented in a bowl that's topped with the cooked rind, which will float on top of the soup with all the other ingredients.

Canh bóng

Canh măng is a traditional soup originating from Vietnam. It's made with bamboo shoots as key ingredients. The soup also features sugar, fish sauce, fried shallots, and either sliced scallions or minced coriander. The bamboo shoots need to be boiled and rinsed before they're sliced and mixed with sugar, then lightly fried with the shallots. Water is added to the pot and the soup is simmered for an hour. It's then seasoned with fish sauce and topped with fried shallots and scallions or coriander. Canh măng is traditionally served during Lunar New Year (Tet) celebrations, and it is often served with steamed white rice.

Canh măng

Vietnam

Canh nấm tr&agrave;m is a traditional soup originating from Ph&uacute; Quốc. This soup is prepared with a combination of Melaleuca mushrooms and local seafood such as fresh squid, shrimp, and oysters. The mushrooms grow between summer and autumn, and they appear after a few days of rain. Their flavor is bitter, especially the skin. In order to reduce the bitterness, the cap and stem should be peeled off or shaved. Locals usually prepare the soup with sweet potato leaves or different vegetables, in addition to the mushrooms and the seafood. It's recommended to season the soup with lots of black pepper in order to elevate its flavors.

Canh nấm tràm

Canja de galinha is a comforting Portuguese chicken soup with many regional varieties. It consists of a hearty chicken broth that is enriched with saut&eacute;ed onions, rice, or orzo pasta, and occasionally diced root vegetables such as celery and carrots. Depending on the region and tradition, the soup is sometimes thickened with beaten egg yolks and seasoned with lemon juice, chopped parsley, or mint leaves. Simple and easy to prepare, canja de galinha is commonly eaten throughout the year, but it is also a staple dish served on many special occasions such as weddings and holiday feasts. Similar varieties can be found in Cape Verde and traditional Brazilian cuisine.

Canja de galinha

Italy

Carabaccia is the original onion soup originating from Tuscany. It dates back to the Renaissance, was Leonardo DaVinci's favorite, and consists of thinly sliced red onions, ground almonds for thickening, cinnamon, salt, pepper, olive oil, toasted bread, vegetable stock, grated cheese such as Pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano, wine vinegar, and either honey or sugar to bring out its sweet and sour flavors. This ancient soup is a classic cucina povera dish that was made out of necessity. When served, a slice of toasted bread is placed in the bottom of each bowl, followed by the carabaccia soup, grated cheese, a pinch of cinnamon and sugar, and a drizzle of olive oil. Modern versions of the soup usually omit the cinnamon, almonds, and vinegar from the recipe.

Carabaccia

Cardone or zuppa di cardi is a traditional soup originating from Campania. It's prepared with cardoons (artichoke thistles) as the key ingredient, along with flour, butter, olive oil, stock, eggs, grated cheese, and seasonings. The cardoons are parboiled in water and flour, drained, then covered in butter and olive oil and saut&eacute;ed. The other ingredients are then added for the soup, which is finished with breaking an egg into each serving bowl, then scrambling it with grated Parmigiano Reggiano. The soup should be served immediately while it's still hot. There's also a version in which meatballs are added to the soup.

Cardone

Carne en su jugo is a traditional beef soup with bacon, beans, garlic, and onions. The broth can be additionally flavored with chilis and vegetables. The soup originates from Guadalajara, and it was first made in the 1950s in a restaurant called El Gallo, when it was used as a hangover cure in the late hours of the evening. Today, carne en su jugo is traditionally served in clay plates.

Carne en su jugo

This traditional Taiwanese dish is a simple, clear soup of cassava chunks and pork spareribs. Typical of aboriginal Taiwanese cuisine, the soup is usually seasoned with salt, pepper, and rice wine, and it also contains ingredients such as shallots, ginger, garlic, and fresh herbs. Warm and filling, this soup has been traditionally prepared by the Saisiyat people, who live in the mountainous region of Taiwan's Hsinchu and Miaoli counties.

Cassava and Spareribs Soup

The traditional Welsh leek and potato soup was once truly the poor man&rsquo;s broth. Unlike the classic dish of Welsh lamb with leeks and root vegetables that anyone outside of Wales considers to be cawl, this humble soup originally contained no meat, not even a single bone, although today it is most often made with chicken stock. Cawl cennin is seasoned with a good grind of black pepper and typically served with a dollop of cream and some freshly made crusty bread spread with Welsh salted butter.

Cawl Cennin

The origins of this traditional Andalusian saffron-flavored almond soup can be traced to a 16th-century cookbook of Ruperto de Nola, chef to King Ferdinand V, the Spanish ruler of Naples. That was the very first cookbook written in Spanish which featured a similar recipe for almond soup with onions, cinnamon, and sugar. Today, the preparation of cebollada con almendras begins with a sofrito of almonds, garlic, and parsley which results in a more savory dish. This elegant soup is sometimes made with the addition of vinegar in the almond paste, but it can also be served drizzled with a few drops of fine sherry vinegar.