Returning from my son's morning golf lesson I decanted two bowls of home made soup (leek & celeriac with just a hint of grated horseradish for anyone interested) and sliced some bread.
'Father', he said, as I placed a bowl in front of him, 'Is soup a food, or drink?'
We pondered that question for a while together, questioning the nature of other sloppy foods from casseroles and stews to watery mashed potatoes and runny poached eggs, eventually concluding that soup is 'food', because it is eaten with cutlery - to wit, a spoon.
'But what of cuppa-soup,' he then enquired, 'we drink that from a cup?'.
'Then that must be a drink' I replied.
He fell silent, seemingly troubled.
'What is the matter, my child,' I asked, to which he replied:
'Should we judge the content, then father, from the appearance of the vessel? Should we divine the nature of what is within solely from that which we can perceive from without?'
I threw his soup down the sink and gave him a sandwich... Nobody loves a smartarse, eh?
