Soup is a liquid food made by cooking ingredients like vegetables, meat, or beans in water or broth. You eat it with a spoon, often as a warm, comforting meal on a cold day.

People have been making soup for thousands of years because it's simple: throw ingredients in a pot with water, heat it up, and you've got a meal. Chicken noodle soup might help you feel better when you're sick. Tomato soup pairs perfectly with a grilled cheese sandwich. Miso soup, popular in Japan, uses fermented soybean paste and often includes tofu and seaweed.

Soups can be smooth and creamy, like butternut squash soup blended until velvety, or chunky and hearty, like minestrone packed with vegetables and pasta. Some soups, like French onion soup, get topped with melted cheese. Others, like pho from Vietnam, arrive steaming hot with fresh herbs you add yourself.

When someone says you're in the soup, they mean you're in trouble. And calling something soup to nuts means it covers everything from beginning to end, since fancy old dinners started with soup and ended with nuts for dessert.