Chicken Soup for the Soul Day

What the day is

Chicken Soup for the Soul Day is observed on November 12. It takes its name from the book series launched in the 1990s, collections of short inspirational stories that were rejected by a long run of publishers before becoming one of the best-selling series in publishing history.

The title borrowed an older idea: that chicken soup restores people, and that a comparable thing might be done for morale.

Origin and background

The soup's reputation is genuinely ancient. Chicken broth as a remedy for respiratory illness is recorded in medieval medical writing, notably by the physician Maimonides in the twelfth century, and appears across a remarkable range of cuisines and traditions.

Modern research is modest but not empty. Laboratory work has found that chicken soup can inhibit the movement of certain white blood cells associated with inflammation, which would be consistent with easing congestion symptoms. Hot liquid and steam measurably improve nasal mucus flow, and hot chicken soup has been found to do so better than hot water alone. Salt, fluid and easily absorbed protein are all useful to someone who is ill and not eating much.

None of that makes it a treatment for infection, and claims beyond symptom relief outrun the evidence. But it is a rare case of a folk remedy where the mechanism proposed is plausible and partially supported.

The other half is not pharmacological. Being brought soup by someone is a documented comfort in its own right, and the social element of care is not incidental to why people recover feeling better.

How to take part

• Make stock from a carcass rather than opening a carton. It costs nothing and the difference is obvious.
• Keep it at a bare simmer. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and turns the broth cloudy.
• Skim the surface in the first twenty minutes, which is when most of it rises.
• Season at the end, after reduction has concentrated everything.
• Take a container of it to someone who is ill. That is the whole day, really.