General Soup Making Tips Soup contains the very essence of all that is nourishing and sustaining in the foods of which it is made. The importance of soup is to consider the main purposes it serves in a meal.  First, as an appetizer taken at the beginning of a meal to stimulate the appetite and aid in the flow of digestive juices in the stomach.  And secondly, as an actual part of the  meal. Care should be taken to make this food attractive enough to appeal to the appetite rather than discourage it.  A small quantity of well-flavored, attractively served soup cannot fail to meet the approval of any family when it is served as the first course of the meal!