* This was originally posted on my old blog on August 8, 2010.
* 筆者の以前のブログに2010年8月8日付で投稿された記事の再掲です。
I recently read about the origin of the word "soup". It looks like the word derives from the Vulgar Latin suppa, meaning "bread soaked in broth". Yes, the word shares the same root with "sop." That means the essence of soup was not originally in its liquid portion. Since then, the food has developed into various forms. Today, we can still enjoy many types of soup with bread, of course, but at the same time, it is often the case that bread as a part of soup is present only in a rudimentary form, such as a few croutons floating on top. In an extreme case, some types of consommé consist only of liquid and have nothing else inside.
Now, let's talk about miso soup. Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup that is seasoned with miso (salty soybean paste). Or... at least that's what they say. Miso is considered as a kind of seasoning now, but originally, it was more of a food, something that itself was to be eaten. In fact, soybeans were a valuable source of protein for the Japanese people of the past, and miso was developed as a way of salt-curing the beans. Therefore, it is highly likely that the principal value of miso soup was not in solid ingredients but in the liquid portion containing a suspension of miso paste. However, in today's world, an increasing variety of solid ingredients can be put into miso soup.
In the field of evolutionary biology, there is a term "convergent evolution", which describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages. For example, birds and bats independently evolved wings for powered flight. The term "cultural convergence" is also used in some fields of cultural studies, but the definition looks somewhat ambiguous to me. Some people seem to use it to mean the same thing as "globalization". While convergent evolution refers to two unrelated species that just randomly happen to develop similar traits, cultural convergence refers to two cultures which are affected by interacting with each other. However, in a very real sense, doesn't "cultural convergence" apply to something like the fact that most people consider miso soup as a type of soup? It is reasonable to call it a soup now as it is a delicious mixture of solid and liquid ingredients just like other soups in the world. But miso soup has developed independently, with quite a different origin from what was suppa in the past.
