Eating out is a time for fretting and panicking for lactose intolerant individuals. Because you are not sure which item contains lactose and which does not. This is especially true with soups as they carry a lot of ingredients in them. You cannot point a soup which is made with just one ingredient. When a multitude of ingredients are added into a dish, it becomes difficult to sort out the lactose-free from the lactose-containing ones. This article offers a list of tips that can help you identify lactose free soups.
Lactose Free Soups: You may wonder what lactose has to do with soups. Of course, they do. Lactose is added to a soup that has milk and milk derivatives or milk products in it. This includes cream, butter, cheese, yogurt etc. Milk is often a binding or thickening agent in soups. Hence you can expect milk to be added as a separate ingredient too. If it is homemade soup, you know what went in. But you cannot do the same with restaurant-made soups. So, what do you do? Below are a few tips:
1. Read through the ingredients: If you are buying ready-made soups, read through all the ingredients. Manufacturers provide a complete listing of food items that have gone into a food/soup. If there are milk products, cream, milk by-products included in them, understand that the soup is not lactose free.
2. Look for specific words: You should be cautious in case of specific mention of the items included in the soup. If you are ordering at a restaurant, check the menu for the description of the soups. Look for words like rose base, chowder, creamy, rich, decadent, hearty, cream etc. A soup that is described in the above way is most likely to contain lactose.
3. Choose Kosher soups: Kosher is a set of rules used by the Orthodox Jewish community for preparation of food. Kosher rules state that dairy products should not be mixed with meat products. If you find restaurants offering Kosher soups, you can have them as they are less likely to contain any lactose in them. Don’t think Kosher is meant only for the Jews. Kosher cuisine is prevalent all over the United States and you too can try them.
4. Eat mixed vegetable soups: Mixed vegetable soups do not have milk in them. But chowders are the only exception. So, choose soups that have a lot of vegetables in them. This will avoid trouble for you.
5. Never choose single vegetable soups: Almost all single vegetable soups have cream or milk added to them. It can be broccoli cream or mushroom cream. Vegetable soups with meat or chicken have pasta or rice in them. Pasta has lactose and hence needs to be avoided.
6. Eat soups from unusual cuisines: Asian, African and West Indian cuisines do not add milk in soups. Though there can be exceptions to this rule, in general, most of the soups of these cultures are lactose free. Some soups from these cultures add other milks like coconut milk, soy milk and almond milk, but never lactose-containing cow’s milk.
7. Avoid these soups: Most of the soups made in French, European, English and Italian cuisines contain milk. So, don’t take chances with these soups.
