Is cereal technically soup?

The easiest way to start an argument among food lovers are the questions about food categories or definitions. Is a taco a sandwich? Are ravioli dumplings? Let the fight commence. Over at Food Republic, they are currently arguing about whether cereal is a soup.

While it just seems wrong to categorize cereal as soup, on the surface there are many similarities – soup and cereal are liquid-based, with solid objects suspended in them. While most soups are warm, several are eaten cold, such as gazpacho and vichyssoise, so heat can’t be the criteria that excludes cereal from the category. Some soups are sweet – fruit-based dessert soups for instance, along with some pumpkin or squash based soups that straddle the line between sweet and savory.

The most compelling argument against calling cereal soup seems to be that cereal is not transformed in any way. Nothing is chopped, seasoned, heated, or blended to create a bowl of cereal. However, I know people who put sugar in cereal or add fruit to it, so I am not convinced that can serve as an exclusionary characteristic.

Whether anyone agrees or disagrees that cereal is a soup, I am definitely calling it that the next time I eat it for breakfast. It makes shredded wheat sound a lot more sophisticated if I say I’m eating a chilled grain soup. So fancy!