Soup is a liquid food served at the beginning of a meal or for lunch, a snack, etc. Originally in France, the soupe (Soup) was the slice of bread on which was poured the contents of the cooking pot (potage).The English word Sop was also in use to refer to the bread that had been soaked. Soupe and potage are now often synonymous, although the former is also used to designate unstrained vegetable, meat, or fish soups garnished with bread, pasta, or rice; it is also used for regional or classical soups with bread added to them, such as French onion soup (soupe a I'oignon gratinee). Other languages developed similar terms and include the Italian zuppa, the German Suppe and the Danish suppe. Soups can be classified into two broad groups: clear soups or broths and thick soups.  Thick soups can be further subdivided according to the type of thickening used:

• puree soups (vegetable soups thickened with the starch contained in the pureed vegetables);  

• bisques (made with pureed shellfish and fresh cream);  

• cream soups (thickened with bechamel sauce);  

• veloute soups (thickened with egg yolks, butter, and cream). In addition to these, there are soups and broths thickened with arrowroot, rice, and tapioca.