Bloomington presents 4th annual Soup Tasting

With the chilling air of autumn rolling into Bloomington, members of the community warmed up by sampling a variety of soups provided by some of the city’s restaurants.

Bloomington organized the fourth-annual free Soup Tasting Saturday  at Showers Plaza, 401 N. Morton St., adjacent to the Farmers’ Market.

This year, 12 restaurants prepared soups inspired by the fall season made with fresh produce. Most participating restaurants received produce from the Farmers’ Market.

“This is a great opportunity for the promotion for the Farmers’ Market’s produce as well as for the restaurants involved,” Brad Drake, market master, said.

Attendees could sample 15 different soups. They ranged from chicken tortilla soup from the Indiana Memorial Union Tudor Room to the vegan-friendly butternut squash soup provided by Laughing Planet Cafe.

One of the most talked about soups of the event was the caramelized turnip and apple soup from chef Dave Tallent of Restaurant Tallent. The soup consisted of apple cider topped with caramelized turnips, giving a bittersweet taste to the fall treat.

“Tallent’s menu always has something no one else has,” said Kevin Scott, a Bloomington resident and four-time Soup Tasting attendee.

Another crowd pleaser was the vegetarian sweet potato maple soup with cranberry creme, a product by chef Annette Fultz from the restaurant Soup’s On. Her sweet potatoes were furnished by McCullough Farms.

“I chose to prepare this because it’s a great fall soup,” Fultz said.

Fultz also prepared a vegan farmhouse soup for the tasting.

The Soup Tasting is known to attract members of the community to the November market before it closes for the season at the end of the month.