Tomato Soup, Dill and the Preservation of Civilisation

I am increasingly convinced that Eastern Europe survives on soups, suspicion and the occasional heroic potato.

Tomato soup is one of the civilised proofs. Not the sugary insult sometimes passed around elsewhere, but the honest version: balanced acidity, real body, a sensible amount of dill and the sort of warmth that makes you stop arguing with reality for a few minutes.

I do not ask food to solve geopolitical problems. I do ask it not to lie. Good soup does not lie. It says: things are imperfect, the weather is unstable, history is difficult, but here is a bowl and you are not abandoned.

That is already more emotional support than most institutions provide.