- Lentil soup was a staple in my household growing up, and is one of my favorite soups.
- Lentil soup is also popular in Blue Zones, areas of the world where people live longer.
- I tried a Blue Zones lentil soup recipe. It was tasty, but less flavorful than my favorite lentil soup recipe.
Growing up, my family ate lentil soup at least once a week for dinner — if not more. My sister and I would lament "not lentil soup again!"
But when I went to college and actually had to cook for myself, suddenly I craved lentil soup. It's been one of my go-to meals ever since.
So I was excited to find out that lentil soup is a food that could actually help me live longer, according to longevity researcher Dan Buettner. With all the lentil soup I've eaten in my life, I should live to be very, very old.
Lentils are apparently a common food in Blue Zones, areas in the world where residents routinely live longer than average. Though there are several Blue Zones around the globe, people in Blue Zones tend to eat a similar diet that is high in complex carbohydrates and vegetables, and low in meat.
According to the Blue Zones website, lentils are popular in many Blue Zones cultures, and for good reason — they're cheap, readily available, and healthy. One cup of cooked lentils has about 18 grams of protein, plus they're loaded with fiber, antioxidants, and iron.
I switched up my usual lentil soup recipe for a Blue Zone-approved recipe to see how it compared. The recipe is from Buettner's cookbook "The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and LIving Like the World's Healthiest People."
The soup is loaded with fiber
In addition to the lentils, this soup is loaded with other healthy vegetables including tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes. Like many Blue Zones foods, veggies were the stars of the show, and there was no meat to be found in the recipe.
I was hopeful it would still be filling though thanks to the 19 grams of fiber per serving from the lentils and potatoes. By eating one serving of this soup alone, I'm getting more fiber than the average American gets a day (only 10-15 grams).
The soup is also rich in vitamins like vitamin C, thanks to the potatoes and tomatoes.
This recipe requires some chopping
Chopping is my least favorite part of cooking, and I immediately noticed that this recipe called for chopped fresh tomatoes rather than canned. Fortunately, I finally have decent knives — which are necessary for chopping tomatoes, lest you end up with a goopy mess.
Canned foods are often much higher in sodium — but they're also easier to use. In future, I'd probably buy no-salt-added canned tomatoes and save myself the bother of cutting fresh ones.
The recipe also explicitly says to peel the carrots and the potatoes, a step I normally skip. I was actually surprised at this step, because eating vegetable peels can help maximize the nutritional benefits.
Unfortunately while I have decent knives, my peeler is dull. I successfully peeled both carrots and 2 of the 5 potatoes before I got annoyed with the peeler and gave up.
To be honest, this recipe was kind of bland
I normally add at least 3 cloves of garlic and a variety of spices to my lentil soup including cumin, curry powder, thyme, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. I was surprised to see that this recipe didn't call for any spices except for bay leaves and salt.
Given the lack of spices, I decided it would be a good idea to at least cook the chopped onions and carrots in olive oil for a few minutes prior to adding the other veggies — an "optional tip" from the recipe that I decided was not actually optional.
Once everything is in the pot, all you have to do is wait!
The best thing about lentil soup is that once you get through chopping, all you have to do is chuck everything into a pot and wait. This recipe recommended letting everything cook for about 45 minutes, which allows the lentils to become soft without turning into mush.
To fill up my time as I waited for soup, I started rewatching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. By the time Harry was flying on Buckbeak, my home smelled aromatic and cozy. About 15 minutes later, the timer went off, and my soup was done.
Even though it had less flavor than my usual recipe, it was still tasty
I ladled the soup into my bowl and garnished it with scallions and olive oil as recommended by the recipe. I also added some crusty sourdough bread on the side, like the SuperAgers of Sardinia.
I definitely recommend the drizzle of olive oil, a staple of Blue Zone diets, as it adds a lovely richness to the soup and adds a bit more flavor. Plus, olive oil is filled with monounsaturated fatty acids — a type of healthy fat thought to lower "bad" LDL cholesterol and improve heart health. The scallions were a also welcome addition.
While this recipe definitely isn't as flavorful as my normal recipe, it's still very tasty.
The soup stores well too: I loaded up the soup into a Tupperware in the fridge overnight and had it for lunch the next day. I actually thought it was even tastier reheated one day later.