I occasionally find myself like this morning before desk time, making pea soup on a Friday. It feels like a nice homage to all the workplace cafeterias I frequented over the years that would always have Friday pea soup.
Is that a Canadian Thing™ only, or does it happen elsewhere too?
I guess there are some Quebec Catholic origins in there somewhere, of which I am only vaguely aware.
@ottaross Pea and ham soup was an occasional winter treat in the sub-tropics where I grew up. Mum would make it from scratch most of the time, although we did have canned if she couldn't be bothered. Even though I've been in Canada for 13 years now, I wasn't aware that it was tradition. Must go ask my wife, who was born in Quebec.
@ottaross A lot of the recipes were handed down from Scots ancestors - puddings, soups, stews and so on. Not sure where she got the pea and ham recipe from but betting it's from one of her MacLennan aunts.
@Aussiemandias that makes sense for a path to Canadians in general too.
For the 'habitants' of early Quebec, it may well have been a path from Scots to native peoples to the French settlers.
@ottaross How many work cafeterias around the world served pea soup on Friday, I wonder? Only two places I worked had cafeterias, and they both had pea soup.
@skatem just Canada it sounds like, but sure seems like a staple here. Maybe we should do a shopping-mall food court tour to see how many we can find on Fridays.
@Dianora@stephanie there's very little meat involved, so I can imagine pulling off a pretty reasonable version with the addition of some firm tofu or TVP. Perhaps adding a bit of maple syrup and a few drops of liquid smoke would be good.
@ottaross@Dianora@stephanie
I agree. Part of my immigrant experience, after recommendation from my host family, I picked up a can of Habitant soup.
Will try to make the recipe from scratch.
@ottaross@Dianora@stephanie Since I was bought up vegetarian I've never actually tried the traditional version with ham, but I've been making this in the instant pot for years https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/vegetarian-split-pea-soup/#. The article about the history claims the peas need to be yellow, but the recipes they linked to all use green peas 🤷🏼♀️ at any I'm sure this recipe would work fine with yellow. I doubt it makes much difference in taste. 18 min in the instant pot vs an hour+ on the stove. It's so tasty I doubt you'll miss the ham.
@ShaunOttawa Oh yes, I suspect the Habitant canned version has a lot of the market. I think cafeterias like the dish as a way to use up the ham from earlier in the week. That's partly my motivation here too. :)
It falls into the 'comfort food' space now, I think. An old familiar thing.
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