Soup

Fagiolata is a true feast for bean lovers: a thick soup made with many different types of beans, each contributing to the final flavor and texture of the dish. Red beans, black beans, borlotti, cannellini, or any other varieties are slowly simmered and flavored with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Nowadays, fagiolata is served with toasted bread, but originally it was a great way to use the old, hardened bread which was placed on the plate before pouring the hot soup in it. The soup would soak the bread, thus making it delicious and soft once again. A drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil before serving additionally enhances the flavors of this hearty dish.

Fagiolata

This traditional Greek lentil soup is simple in ingredients and preparation, but results in a dish that is packed with flavors. Characterized by its dense texture, next to brown or green lentils, the soup often incorporates onions, garlic, carrots, and occasionally pur&eacute;ed tomatoes. Always served warm and sometimes topped with olive oil and vinegar, fakes is enjoyed as a nourishing winter meal and is usually accompanied by a few bread slices.

Fakes

Fanesca is a unique Ecuadorian soup characterized by its thick consistency, consisting of fresh Andean grains, beans, peas, and lentils, combined with salt cod cooked in milk. There should be 12 different grains and beans in the soup, symbolizing the 12 disciples, as the soup is prepared only during the Easter festivities. Fanesca is traditionally served in round bowls, garnished with fried plantains, parsley, and hard-boiled eggs.

Fanesca

A variety of dan hua tang (lit. egg flower soup), the nourishing tomato and egg soup is a classic Chinese comfort dish. It is made with coarsely chopped tomatoes and green onions simmered in a flavorful pork broth, while eggs are stirred into it towards the end of cooking. Tomato and egg soup is often flavored with Chinese pickled mustard greens called zha cai or fish sauce, both of which add saltiness and a good deal of tang to each spoonful. This light, refreshing soup is typically served after a meal, especially a heavy, greasy one, and it tastes just as good hot or cold.

Fan qie dan zang

China

Fanqie jiandan tang is a traditional soup originating from Sichuan. The soup is usually made with a combination of eggs, tomatoes, stock, oil, salt, white pepper, and greens such as spinach leaves. The eggs are beaten, the tomatoes sliced, and the stock is brought to a boil. Beaten eggs are poured into a wok and fried in oil until golden on both sides. The hot stock is added to the wok and simmered until opaque. The tomatoes are added and boiled until just cooked, while spinach leaves are cooked until just wilted. The soup is seasoned with salt and white pepper, and it's then served in deep bowls.

Fan qie jian dan tang

Italy

Farinata di cavolo nero is a traditional cucina povera soup originating from Tuscany. It's prepared with a combination of cavolo nero Tuscan kale, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, canellini beans, tomato pur&eacute;e, maize flour, olive oil, rosemary, and sage. The beans are cooked with the sage, garlic, and rosemary until tender. The vegetables are chopped and saut&eacute;ed in olive oil, followed by the kale, tomato pur&eacute;e, and beans. The pot is filled with water, brought to a boil, then the flour is mixed in and the soup is cooked until all ingredients are tender. This thick soup is traditionally served drizzled with olive oil and garnished with ground black pepper. It can only be made in winter, when cavolo nero is in season. In the past, this soup was usually prepared in the evening, then left to thicken up overnight so that it could be sliced and grilled or fried the next morning and served as a hearty breakfast.

Farinata di cavolo nero

Fasolada is a simple and traditional Greek and Cypriot soup made from dried white beans that are drizzled with olive oil and eaten with various vegetables and herbs such as onions, celery, and tomatoes. The dish is nutritious and reminiscent of antiquity, as barley, olives, and beans were the three crops that sustained the armies of Alexander the Great. Fasolada is eaten throughout the year, but it is traditionally consumed during Lent, when Orthodox Christians go through a religious fast. The name fasolada comes from the word fasoli, meaning beans, hence the name of this healthy and flavorful alternative to meat dishes. According to a myth, it was created when Theseus went to kill the Minotaur, and on his way he stopped to make a sacrifice to the Greek God Apollo, promising that if he kills the Minotaur, he would give Apollo some olive branches that were decorated with fruits. Upon his return, there was no food left on the ship, so Theseus and his comrades gathered anything they could find and cooked it in a savory stew, creating the fasolada. An inexpensive and tasty dish, fasolada is often accompanied by crusty bread, feta cheese and olives on the side.

Fasolada

Spain

Fava parada is a traditional dish originating from the Balearic Islands, and it's especially popular in Mallorca. The dish is made with a combination of broad beans, carrots, turnips, onions, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, olive oil, pork ribs, pigs trotters, pork belly, blood sausage, sobrasada, noodles, mint, salt, and pepper. The beans, turnips, carrots, trotters, pork belly, and ribs are cooked in water over low heat until the meat is fully cooked. After that, it's removed and cut into strips. The sausages, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, and strips of meat are then added to the pot and cooked until the potatoes are tender. The noodles are then added to the pot with salt, pepper, and mint, and the dish is ready to be served. This broad bean soup with noodles is traditionally served warm.

Fava parada

Fazolov&aacute; is a traditional bean soup. Although it appears in numerous varieties, it usually consists of plump white beans cooked in a flavorful broth, with an option to add potatoes, root vegetables, and smoked meat. It is usually enriched with sour cream or thickened with flour. This rustic dish is one of the most common soup varieties in the country, and can be found on the menus of many traditional restaurants. It is always served hot and is mainly enjoyed as a hearty appetizer.

Fazolová polévka

Easy to prepare, hearty, and healthy, this flavorful Trini dish makes use of sweet potatoes, which are available throughout the year on the island. They are very high in vitamins, beta-carotene, and have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Apart from sweet potatoes, this chowder is made with onions, garlic, hot peppers, carrots, cream, and firm white fish fillets which have previously been cut into bite-size pieces. The soup is traditionally flavored with oregano, parsley, nutmeg, and celery. All of the ingredients except the fish are blended together. The chowder is served warm, and it is recommended to garnish it with chopped coriander.

Fish and Sweet Potato Chowder

The unusually named Buddha jumps over the wall is a Chinese specialty with origins in the province of Fujian, and the dish was originally made in the Qing Dynasty period. The cooking process for this decadent soup is very complicated as it takes about three days to prepare it, and the recipe calls for upwards of 30 ingredients such as shark fin, chicken, duck, tripe, tendons, ham, gizzards, abalone, sea cucumber, pigeon eggs, mushrooms, scallops, bamboo shoots... and the list goes on. Raw ingredients are cooked into separate, different dishes in order to develop their unique flavors. The dishes are then layered in a clay jar with soup and wine. Lotus leaf is used to seal the jar, and the jar is finally placed on the fire to be heated. Although there are many theories about the origin of the soup, the most popular one says that a scholar went on a picnic with his friends, and placed all of the ingredients he had in a wine jar, which was then heated over a charcoal fire. The attractive aromas spread all the way to a nearby temple, resulting in monks jumping over the temple wall, even though they were supposed to be vegetarians. One of the scholar's friends wrote a poem praising the soup, and the line says "Even Buddha himself would jump the wall to come over," giving the dish its intricate name. According to the Guinness World Book of Records, a bowl of this soup holds the record for the most expensive soup in the world, as it was sold for nearly $200 at Kai Mayfair in London.

Fo tiao qiang

Frantoiana is a traditional Tuscan soup. It's usually made with borlotti beans, lard, mountain herbs, parsley, leeks, pumpkin, potatoes, white cabbage, black cabbage (cavolo nero), zucchini, basil, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, hot peppers, fennel seeds, stale bread, and extra-virgin olive oil. However, the ingredients are not fixed and they should be seasonal, depending on what's fresh in the market or depending on the cook's personal preferences. The olive oil used in the soup is traditionally the one produced in the hills near Lucca, and it should be extra virgin from the first pressing. In order to prepare the soup, the vegetables should be chopped and simmered with oil and herbs. Beans and water are added to the pot, and the toasted stale bread is added only when the vegetables have become tender. Frantoiana is usually served in a crock pot and it's seasoned with olive oil and pepper. If there are any leftovers, they make for a great meal, and the soup can also be eaten cold. Frantoiana is especially popular in fall during the olive harvest. The name is derived from frantoio, meaning oil press.

Frantoiana

Frikadeļu zupa is a Latvian meatball soup with numerous variations and recipes. The soup is usually prepared with a combination of water, carrots, celery, and potatoes. It is flavored with bay leaves and peppercorns. The meatballs are made with ground beef or pork (or a combination), milk, eggs, onions, flour, and breadcrumbs. After the mixture is formed into small balls, everything is simmered together until the vegetables and meatballs are fully cooked. When served, this nourishing soup is typically enriched with the addition of sour cream and finely chopped parsley or dill.

Frikadeļu zupa

Fl&auml;dlesuppe or frittatensuppe (as it is known in Austria) is a traditional and Austrian soup that consists of a rich broth with thin strips of fl&auml;dle (frittaten) pancakes, hence the name of the soup. Although the traditional version calls for beef broth as the base, chicken or vegetable stock may be used as well. The soup is often enhanced with chunks of steamed or saut&eacute;ed vegetables such as leeks, carrots, celery, and green onions. After assembling the sliced and rolled strips in each serving bowl, this piping hot soup is poured over them and the whole thing is finished with a handful of freshly chopped herbs such as parsley, chives, or celery leaves on top.

Frittatensuppe

Australia

EVEN THOUGH THERE'S STILL NO EVIDENCE FOR THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THIS DISH AND CORONAVIRUS, NOR IS THERE A SINGLE CASE OF CORONAVIRUS INFECTION IN PALAU, IT'S A KNOWN FACT THAT FRUIT BATS HARBOR MORE VIRUSES THAN IT WAS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT, SO IT'S RECOMMENDED TO EXERCISE CAUTION BEFORE ORDERING OR EATING THIS DISH. Fruit bat soup is a Palau delicacy made with small fruit bats who reside in forested areas at the top of trees. They consume nectar, flowers, and wild fruits, helping with the distribution of seeds during the process. The bats' diet of flowers and fruits also results in their meat being sweeter than the meat of other bats. The soup is prepared by boiling the washed bats in water, then cooking them with ginger, coconut milk, and various spices (and often vegetables) depending on the cook's preferences. It is typically served in large bowls, with the bat staring at your face, and the proper way to eat it is to chew the bat, sucking the meat out in the process and discarding the leftover fur. What was once a staple of the locals' diet became a delicacy over the years, and since the end of 2019, it became a controversial dish due to possible (but not proven!) correlation with the infamous coronavirus.

Fruit Bat Soup

Galbitang is a Korean soup made with beef short-ribs. This delicious soup is eaten as a stand-alone meal, and it is prepared by boiling short-ribs and a whole radish for about 4 to 5 hours. When cooked, the meat is flavored with scallions, garlic, ground pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and salt. It is then placed back into the broth along with the sliced radish. This soup is similar to seolleongtang, which is made with ox bones. Due to the fact that beef ribs are an expensive cut of meat, galbi-tang is considered to be a rather special dish, thus being served on special occasions, such as weddings and banquets.

Galbitang

Mexico

Gallina pinta is a traditional soup originating from Sonora. The name of the soup means speckled hen and it refers to the colorful ingredients used in its preparation - white corn, red chili peppers, and brown beans. Other ingredients include oxtail pieces, onions, garlic, salt, peppercorns, and pork spareribs. The oxtail, onions, garlic, salt, beans, peppercorns, white corn, and spareribs are cooked in water for a few hours until the meat and the beans become very tender. The chili peppers are cut into strips and added to the soup before it's served in deep bowls while still warm.

Gallina pinta

South Korea

Gamjatang is a flavorful Korean stew made with pork spine and potatoes as the key ingredients, along with bean paste, chili powder, and garlic which are also simmered in the pot. The dish is usually topped with sesame leaves and served with a bowl of rice on the side. Gamjatang has origins in the Incheon area, famously full of construction workers who used to cook it throughout the day so it could be consumed when they would finish working. The stew would often be paired with a few shots of cold soju. Today, gamjatang is a popular hangover cure in Korea, and it has spread to other territories such as Europe, USA, and Southeast Asia.

Gamjatang

France

Garbure is a traditional thick soup from the southwest of France, consisting of meat, cheese, stale bread, and vegetables such as cabbage, peas, onions, or carrots. The soup is traditionally served as an evening meal over two courses, so the meat is usually taken out and served as a main course along with cornichons and pickled hot peppers. Garbure is ideally cooked in a toupin, a high and round earthenware vessel. Originally, it was a peasant soup, its name coming from the Spanish word garbias, meaning stew, or from the French word garbe, meaning a bunch, referring to the large amount of vegetables that are prominent in the soup. Although it is not the most visually appealing dish, its rich flavors and textures surely make up for it.

Garbure

This delicious Tuscan soup hails from the 16th-century Lucca. It is traditionally made with a variety of fresh spring vegetables such as broad beans, fava beans, asparagus, spring onions, and artichokes. Though it is nourishing enough as it is, garmugia&mdash;also called gramugia&mdash;is often prepared with the addition of ground veal and pancetta (Italian bacon), which imparts a rich flavor and transforms it into a truly hearty meal. Garmugia is best enjoyed with a slice of toasted country-style bread.