SOUP IS GOOD FOOD:

Liquid Assets (JULIA REED, December 1, 2002, NY Times Magazine)

In Richard Reeves's wonderful book ''President Nixon,'' there is an anecdote regarding the administration's first state dinner, for the Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau. The morning afterward, Reeves writes, the president complained to his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman: ''We've got to speed up these dinners. They take forever. So why don't we just leave out the soup course?'' When Haldeman tried to interject, Nixon cut him off: ''Men don't really like soup.''

The chief of staff, who knew his boss very well, picked up the phone and called the president's valet. ''Was there anything wrong with the president's suit after that dinner last night?''

''Yes,'' the valet answered. ''He spilled soup down the vest.''

So, Reeves reports, ''the action memo went out: no more soup, ever.''

Men do, of course, like soup, but it should be the consistency of stew, not broth. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 2, 2002 8:14 AM