Tribal People Try Soups

Soups: chicken noodle, tomato, French onion, clam chowder, Japanese miso, Vietnamese pho, hot and sour. Thin soups as a starter are a city-restaurant idea in Pakistan; village food comes in one course.

Warm and savoury is easy. Creamy soups are compared to something a child is fed when ill; clear broths with noodles do better. Miso's fermented saltiness is new and usually approved after a second spoon.

Yakhni (bone broth) and chicken corn soup from Pakistani-Chinese restaurants are the reference points. A soup without ginger and black pepper in it feels unfinished.