Tidbits: Enough soup, already!

By AL SICHERMAN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 7, 2009 - 6:04 PM

Enough soup, already!

The world of major-brand soups has been mushrooming (so to speak), and Mr. Tidbit fears he has fallen behind. So when he got an e-mail from Campbell's crowing that its line of Chunky soups has been reformulated so that there are now more than 30 that contain a full serving of vegetables (per cup of soup), more than 30 that feature all lean meat, 23 that have a serving of vegetables and all lean meat, and more than 30 that are a good source of protein, he was stunned. There's plenty of overlap in that list, but that's still a lot of Chunky soup. How many kinds are there, he wondered.

Including 11 in microwave cups, Campbell's website lists 56! And that's just the Chunky soups. Good grief! How many kinds of what Mr. Tidbit thinks of as "regular" Campbell's soup (condensed soup with the red and white label) are there? Including a new line of five "Light" soups with 80 calories or fewer per serving, the website shows 81! (And websites are always behind.) There are also 33 kinds of Select Harvest soup, whatever that means, and several other kinds, but you get the idea and Mr. Tidbit got tired of counting.

Fiber from Progresso

Mr. Tidbit just learned that Betty Crocker's Progresso soups now come in four High Fiber varieties. Actually, it was that news that caused Mr. Tidbit to look at Campbell's website, to see if Campbell's had high-fiber soups, too. Amazingly, the answer appears to be no. Not yet, anyway.

Because he had explored the Campbell's website, he thought he also ought to check into how many kinds of Progresso soup there are. Compared with Campbell's, Progresso is a spring chicken soup, so the Progresso website shows a mere 86 kinds altogether, including 14 "Light" soups (60 calories per serving) and several other categories, plus the four new High Fiber soups (websites are always behind).

AL SICHERMAN