Soup Diary 111230

Ben and I stopped in at a local eatery last week while Christmas shopping, and they had a lunch buffet of salad, pizza and soup which we both decided to have. The pizza was pretty good (they had a nice Buffalo Chicken variety with blue cheese in the mix), and the salad bar offered a nice variety of veggies and toppings, so no complaint there. Since it was Friday, one of the soup options was New England Clam Chowder, which I avoid as a rule, which left me with the second, unmarked choice. I mention that it was unmarked, because frankly, I still don't know what exactly it was. It was evidently something vegetarian, as I detected no sign of beef, chicken or any other kind of meat. I guess it could have just been Vegetable, but it wasn't like any other straight vegetable soup I've ever had, including as it did beans and okra. The latter made me think it was some kind og gumbo, but doesn't gumbo automatically have meat? It was an Italian restaurant, so maybe it was a variation on minestrone, but there did not appear to be any beans (don't let the stock picture above fool you). Whatever it was, it was suitably hot and wet, and the ingredients were not overcooked, so it satisfied. I'd sure like to know what it was though. Next time I'll have to ask the waitress.