Explore 2 new foreign recipes at CNY regional market’s weekly ‘Soup Camp’
The CNY regional market hosted its third “Soup Camp” Sunday to teach and share international recipes and tastings. Salt City Market manager Adam Sudmann said this event showcases new flavors and supports local produce. Collin Snyder | Staff Photographer
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Despite gusts of wind blowing over signs, napkins and vendors’ products, the Central New York Regional Market attracted patrons for its third Soup Camp on Sunday.
The stand, organized by Salt City Market manager Adam Sudmann, shares soup recipes and free samples from all over the world with patrons on a “pay-what-you-can” basis. At the end of the month, all proceeds from the weekly camps contribute toward making 1,000 quarts of soup for members of the Onondaga County community in need, Sudmann said.
Each week, soup recipes from two different nations around the world are chosen. Featured on the menu this week were the Haitian soup joumou and Haudenosaunee corn soup. The camp previously featured dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, Iran and India.
The event came to fruition after the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance reached out to Sudmann, he said. The organization asked him to create an event that showed off both regional produce while also rescuing produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.
Sudmann draws in customers by stopping them with a “hello,” directing them to the soup and explaining more about the soup’s purpose and cultural significance. Market patrons are encouraged to stop at the booth, taste the soup and donate whatever they can.
“We say just pay what you can,” he said. “Have a sample of a national cuisine, something made with love.”
Member of the Onondaga Nation and SOFSA board member Curtis Waterman showcased Haudenosaunee corn soup, which his brother, Jerome Waterman, made beforehand.
Jerome Waterman began preparing the soup at 4 a.m. for the event’s 11 a.m. start. Waterman said the soup-making process is lengthy and tedious. He starts by removing white corn kernels from the cob and boiling them with wood ashes to take the hull off each kernel.
Curtis Waterman explained various protein alternations for the dish. At Sunday’s event, he cooked ground moose meat that patrons could add themselves, but said other variations include venison, wild boar or even fish.
“The corn soup that we made was whatever the hunters brought,” Waterman said.
Waterman was taught the recipe by his aunt in grade school. He was unaware of the time commitment and “all-day process” he was getting himself into.
One patron at the market, Leyvon Bright, spoke highly of the corn soup, even encouraging others with him to try it.
“It was different, but it was good,” Bright said. “It was flavorful.”
Alexandra Muraca, an organizer of Soup Camp, said she hoped to expand in the future by sourcing from more farms and using produce from lesser-known areas.
“A big cornerstone of the project is utilizing a lot of leftover produce, so right now we’re doing a lot of sourcing and working on building relationships with local farms in agriculture centers,” Muraca said.
Perpetuanna Cazinir Lazare, owner of Petu Haitian Soule Food, made soup joumou, a squash, plantain, malanga root, turnip and macaron soup, with spices like basil and carob. Lazare said the dish is typically made for Haiti’s Independence Day on Jan. 1.
For Lazare, soup joumou is a staple in her business and personal life.
“This is a recipe I learned from my mother, my godmother,” Lazare said. “I make it at home because everybody at home likes it.”
Wendy Sustache, a self-proclaimed “foodie” and Syracuse native, stopped by the stand and tried Lazare’s soup. Despite intending to attend the market’s Saturday session to explore its fruit stand options, she was glad she stopped by.
“Just enough flavor, just enough heat, so I really enjoyed the soup,” Sustache said. “I actually asked her what kind it was, so I can Google the recipe, so it would be something that I would make at home.”
Through the camp, Muraca highlighted Onondaga County’s need for better food security. She often works downtown in the school system as a contract food service provider, where she assesses institutions’ food waste.
The stand defines its success by its connections with the community, where each week, Muraca said she sees returning patrons and donors.
“It’s hard to complain about something without offering a tangible solution, and I am no business person, but this is what I have to offer,” Muraca said.
The next soup camp will be at the CNY regional market this Sunday.
