Soup for You?

Apparently these has been around for a while, but I just saw The Original SoupMan frozen soups in the grocery store freezer. Something about the stern face of the chef on the box made these seem familiar. I thought to myself, that can't be the Soup Nazi, but sure enough, it is--a full thirteen years after the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld first aired.

The package itself was reasonably informative. The SoupMan is Al Yeganeh. It mentions Seinfeld but claims that the New York Times was praising Yeganeh's soup long before TV came calling. For whatever reason (and this may actually be explained on the package--in all truth, I only glanced at it), he decided to expand a couple if years ago. There are franchises at various places around the country, and ostensibly they can be found in Chicago at selected Cold Stone Creameries--but I've also never been inside a Cold Stone Creamery, so I've never seen it for myself. The hype is that Yeganeh oversees soup production himself, so if you buy the frozen soup or buy from one of the franchises, you can have the same taste experience as those who lined up outside his original outlet in New York.

If you go to the Webpage of Al's Soup Kitchen International, however, there's a note saying that Yeganeh has sold out to The Original SoupMan and left the country (he's still offering international franchising rights, though). Don't worry, though, you can still get a celebrity fix by indulging in the Original SoupMan products. Reggie Jackson is a senior vice president.