The history of soup goes back many thousands of years. Its genesis may have been for tenderizing tough vegetables and extracting the last bits of meat off of bones. This was, of course, a time when nothing eatable would be allowed to go to waste. One historical story has it that wealthy landowners in the South ate mostly the meat from their cooking pots and left the ?dregs? for the house and field hands. As it turns out, this ?undesirable? part of the soup contains most of the nutrition, and the workers were healthier than their owners. While there are some recipes that require a bit of time to prepare, most are of the easy prepare and clean-up variety. Serving sizes have been left out of these soup recipes because they would vary, depending on how hungry the people are and whether or not there are additional foods with the soup. I do not normally specify the amount of salt &pepper to be used in these recipes. So add them to suit your own taste. If you are not comfortable with this method of following recipes, I suggest you experiment until you are. Experienced cooks are intuitive and not rigid in their application of seasonings. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Soup Makes A Meal: It?s Economical And Healthy As Well (Volume 1) (Kip Koehler)