Channeling Julia

Pea soup, made from dried peas, has been around since antiquity. It was mentioned in Aristotle's "The Birds" and sources say that the Greeks and Romans cultivated this legume as early as 500BC. Street vendors sold hot pea soup on the streets of Athens.

Pea soup is popular in many cuisines and can be grey-green or green-yellow in color depending on the variety of peas that are used. It is a traditional dish in Canada - very popular in Quebec where chopped salt pork is added and Newfoundland where other vegetables and dumplings are added to become more of a stew. In fact French Canadians are sometimes referred to as "pea soupers" by their English speaking counterparts. It is also a popular dish in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom.

There is a well know English nursery rhyme - " pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold..." that dates from 1765. And most of us have heard of London's infamous "pea soup fog". There are numerous other references to pea soup in 19th century English literature where it was described as a food eaten by the poor.

In the United States it is a well known dish and usually prepared as split pea soup, a thinned down version containing whole peas, ham and other vegetables. In the 1973 film "The Exorcist" pea soup was used by the special effects team to simulate Linda Blair's projectile vomit while she was possessed by the demon. On a more appetizing note, it is often found on St. Patrick's Day menus when green food is called for.