Home > Relish Austin > Archives > 2009 > January > 30 > Entry
Soup Peddler David Ansel: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
David and his delivery drivers don’t pedal anymore, and they deliver more than just soup to more than 20 zip codes in Austin. The menu changes every week, and you have to order a week ahead. Confused? The FAQ on the Web site will help.
David was always interested in food and cooking. He says he really started getting into soup when he was living in group houses in his younger years. “There were always plenty of rotting vegetables on hand,” he says. After starting The Soup Peddler, he wrote a cookbook “The Soup Peddler’s Slow and Difficult Soups,” but he says he’s getting away from recipes lately. He says he’d rather empower people to cook on their own without depending on the exact measurements of someone else’s trial and error.
The Soup Peddler is doing better than it ever has, he says, but more important, he says he’s happy with where he’s at, working part time to stay at home with his daughter, Mia Rose, who will celebrate her first birthday next month.
What three things are always in your fridge? The first three that come to mind are lemons, scallions, and parsley, although now I keep my parsley in my garden and soon will my scallions too. Whenever people ask me how I can be a dad, business owner, and still cook for my family, I tell them if you have lemons, scallions, and parsley (and of course olive oil, salt and pepper), you’re never too far from a delicious dinner.
What’s your favorite condiment? What’s with the hardball questions? If you consider it a condiment, I always have a batch of sweet pickled cabbage brewing in the back of the fridge. Takes any sandwich to a whole nutha level. For the same reason I always keep pickled ginger too. Two hot sauces pretty much keep me covered, Crystal’s and Sriracha.
If you had to eat soup every day for the rest of your life, which soup would you eat? There’s this interesting soup that’s quite often cooked in a pressurized container, made from the roasted, hulled beans from a tropical plant. I serve it with sugar and half and half, or egg nog when available. So if I had to pick one, that’d be it. If I had another choice, I’d frankly have to go with Soup Peddler’s chicken noodle.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: What's in Your Fridge Friday
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.
By Jodi
January 30, 2009 1:43 PM | Link to this
I LOVE Mia soooo much! And her parents are pretty great too…
By elmundodemando
January 30, 2009 10:11 PM | Link to this
What no bikes? I thought it was back to basics in 09? Nice 80s pic!
By Rachel
February 1, 2009 12:33 AM | Link to this
Next to Barton Springs and Town Lake, the Soup Peddler is the heart and soul of Austin. The Soup Peddler IS Love.
By mindy
February 1, 2009 8:42 PM | Link to this
I’m proud to say I was south Austin soupie from the early days—David’s business and his accessible approach to great food is so inspiring! Love the idea of keeping sweet pickled cabbage on hand: Yum.