flipCanned Tomato Soup, Factory Lunch Counter Style
Canned Tomato Soup, Factory Lunch Counter Style
Why this dish? Warhol said he ate the same Campbell's soup for lunch almost every day for twenty years, because he liked that it was always the same. His 32 Soup Cans paintings (1962) were born from this obsession with the identical everyday.
A velvety, slightly sweet-and-sour tomato soup, heated up quickly, gulped down between silkscreen prints. The zero degree of a meal: fast, constant, comforting, and totally reproducible.
I like boring things. I like things to be exactly the same, day after day, because the more you look at the same thing, the less it means, and the better you feel. I've been eating this soup for lunch for twenty years, I think. You open the can, you pour it, it's done. That's what's beautiful: a tomato soup is a tomato soup, mine is the same as anyone else's, and I'm fine with that.
- •Can of condensed tomato soup — 1 can (iconic industrial base)
- •Milk — one can volume (dilutes and softens)
- •Saltine crackers — a handful (counter accompaniment)
Canned Tomato Soup, Factory Lunch Counter Style
A velvety, slightly sweet-and-sour tomato soup, heated up quickly, gulped down between silkscreen prints. The zero degree of a meal: fast, constant, comforting, and totally reproducible.
Why this dish? Warhol said he ate the same Campbell's soup for lunch almost every day for twenty years, because he liked that it was always the same. His 32 Soup Cans paintings (1962) were born from this obsession with the identical everyday.
I like boring things. I like things to be exactly the same, day after day, because the more you look at the same thing, the less it means, and the better you feel. I've been eating this soup for lunch for twenty years, I think. You open the can, you pour it, it's done. That's what's beautiful: a tomato soup is a tomato soup, mine is the same as anyone else's, and I'm fine with that.
Ingredients (period version)
- Can of condensed tomato soup — 1 can (iconic industrial base)
- Milk — one can volume (dilutes and softens)
- Saltine crackers — a handful (counter accompaniment)
Ingredients
- Canned peeled tomatoes — 400 g (tangy base)
- Whole milk — 200 ml (creamy 'cream of tomato' style)
- Butter — 20 g (richness)
- Sugar — 1 tsp (corrects acidity, signature of US soups)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
- Saltine crackers — a handful (to crumble on top)
Method
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add crushed canned tomatoes and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Blend until smooth, then pour in the milk while stirring over low heat without boiling.
- Add sugar, salt, pepper: aim for a smooth, sweet-and-sour velvety texture.
- Pour into a bowl, crumble crackers on top, and eat standing up, quickly, like at the workshop.
How it was made : Campbell's condensed soup, launched in 1897, democratized hot soup: one can, water or milk, and it's ready. In postwar America, it was the standard lunch par excellence, identical from New York to California.
The contemporary twist : Serve it in a plain mug on a cutting board, next to the empty can kept like a little art object. Grilled cheese toast optional, the true American duo.
Sources : Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975) · Campbell Soup Company, history of condensed soup
Andy Warhol · Charactorium
