2020 - Is cereal a type of soup?

It has been a very surprising year. Hopefully things get back to normal soon.

I have not been anywhere particularly interesting this year for obvious reasons. Usually I put pictures of where I have been on this site and talk about what was happening in each one. I cannot do that this time, so instead I will try to share some of the interesting conversations I have had with people instead.

One day I asked my colleagues "Is cereal a type of soup?". This question is a silly, but useful one. It goes some way to reveal your mindset. Have you got a "fixed" or "growth" mindset?

Your answer largely depends on how flexible your thinking is. Can you bend rules and definitions to find room and make allowances for cereal to join the ranks of soup-dishes? Below is a brief summary of the ideas people have shared.

NO!

Why?

Soup is hot.

If you leave soup to go cold, is it still soup?

Well, yes - but you eat soup when it is hot.

There are cold soups like gazpacho. Those are made cold and eaten cold. They are still soup.

I suppose. But cereal is nothing like soup. It is made of milk and has crunchy things in it.

What is your soup made of?

Soup is usually cooked, and made of vegetables and meat (you don't have to have meat though). It can be watery or thick.

Soups can also have milk or cream in them - think of "cream of mushroom soup" or "seafood chowder soup". They all have milk/cream in them and they are still soups.

They aren't crunchy though.

If you don't cook the vegetables enough they could be a bit crunchy. However, croutons in soup are always crunchy. If you leave the cereal for long enough, it won't be crunchy anymore. Therefore, cereal is a kind of soup.

In that case anything in a bowl could be soup!

You can have soup in a cup - its still soup. But you are getting closer to my thinking. Anything can be soup if you want it to be