Soup & Bread 2016: Happy Friday the 13th

Soup & Bread returns to the Hideout  January 6 – March 30 for our eighth season of soup and sociability. Over those eight years we’ve raised more than $60,000 for local food pantries and hunger relief organizations in Chicago and across the country, and we’ve forced you to make (and eat) soups organized around such dubious culinary principles as “Daylight Savings,” “Love, Lust & Hate,” and, of course, “Rahm-en v. Daley.”

The themes. Oh yes. You asked, so this year we’re bringing them back, in a sense. With 13 weeks in the season, we’re wracking our brains to come up with naturally occurring sets of 13 — and guess what? There are not that many of them. 

Cards in a suit? Gods of Olympus? Witches in a coven? Pastries?

That’s about all we’ve got so far, and we’re just going to leave them out there for inspiration for now. If you’ve got another idea, put your triskaidekaphobia on the back burner and write to us at soupnbread10 [at] gmail [dot] com. Ideally we’ll come with (ta-da) 13 of them. 

More generally, if you’d like to get on the soup schedule now, themes be damned, drop us a line with your preferred date. Soup & Bread runs every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia. Each week’s community meal is prepared by 6-8 volunteer cooks, along with bread donated by Publican Quality Meats and music provided by a host of guest DJs. All pay-what-you-can donations benefit  Chicago-area food pantries. 

We will post a full schedule soon at soupandbread.net, but if you can’t wait till January, we will also be serving soup and selling books at Chicago’s coziest craft fair, the annual Hideout Holiday Sale, December 8 and 22. The fair runs 6 to 9 pm at the Hideout, there’s no cover, and there is beer.

We hope to see you soon!