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NZ Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Soup boards are winter's messiest new food trend – will they catch on here?
The question, though, is whether this is a trend with real traction or just another fleeting social media spectacle. The rise of the board To understand the soup board, it helps to look back at its predecessors. The charcuterie board, once a preserve of French picnic culture, has been reimagined online into countless themed iterations: breakfast boards, dessert boards, nacho boards, even fry boards. The butter board, popularised on TikTok in late 2022 by creator Justine Doiron (inspired by chef Joshua McFadden), was perhaps the peak of the genre – a communal slab of softened butter swiped on to a board and topped with anything from edible flowers to za'atar to hot honey. The soup board takes that same spirit – interactive, shareable, aesthetically excessive – and applies it to a comfort-food staple, conveniently timed for the Southern Hemisphere winter. In videos tagged #soupboard and #soupcharcuterieboard, creators show off curated combinations: butternut soup with bacon bits, cheddar shards and thyme croutons; chicken tortilla soup flanked by lime wedges, jalapenos and toasted corn strips; and even multiple soups in miniature ramekins for a 'flight' format. Some boards lean into customisation, setting out a central tureen of soup and arranging toppings around it. Others offer individual bowls with themed pairings. In all cases, visual appeal is paramount. Is it practical – or just pretty? The appeal is obvious. Soup is inherently comforting, and for many people, winter cooking skews nostalgic. The board format adds a playful, DIY aspect that lends itself to small-scale entertaining – a kind of adult lunchable with flair. It also photographs beautifully, which remains a driving force behind many viral food trends. Styling with accoutrements, ie toppings, is key to the soup board trend. Photo / Babiche Martens But critics have pointed out the soup board's flaws. For one, it's messy. Hot liquid on a wooden surface, surrounded by precarious crumbs, dripping oils and sticky toppings, is a clean-up challenge waiting to happen. Wood isn't the most hygienic serving material, especially for anything involving moisture. There's also a certain impracticality to balancing multiple mini soup bowls on a single board. As Bettina Makalintal, a writer for US-based food site Eater, put it in a wry 2023 article: 'The soup board is chaos. It is an affront to the stability of soup as a concept.' She argued that many of the boards seemed designed more for social media engagement than actual enjoyment. Could the trend take hold here? In New Zealand, where winter comfort food tends to favour the humble and hearty over the performative, the soup board may seem like a step too far. But as local entertaining norms evolve – and social media continues to influence how we present food – there's space for these kinds of playful ideas to find a niche. It helps that the concept is easily adapted to what Kiwis are already cooking. A single soup – say, roasted cauliflower, pumpkin and coconut, or classic tomato – could be served with a couple of simple accompaniments: grilled cheese triangles, roasted seeds, herby croutons, flavoured olive oil. It doesn't need to be complicated to feel special. Some cafes and caterers may find more use for the idea than home cooks. Like butter boards before them, soup boards are arguably better suited to stylised settings – think grazing tables at events, or social media content for cafes looking to lean into the seasonal mood. But home cooks who enjoy putting together a bit of a spread – or entertaining without going full three-course dinner – may still find inspiration in the format. Style over substance? In the end, the soup board is probably less a revolutionary new way of eating and more a clever reframe of what many people already enjoy: warm soup with good bread and a few things to sprinkle on top. The trend's real power lies in how it makes the familiar feel a little more curated, a little more 'occasion-worthy'. And for all its potential mess and overthinking, it does remind us that even something as humble as soup can be made to feel indulgent with the right trimmings. Herald contributor Nikki Birrell has worked in food and travel publishing for nearly 20 years. From managing your kitchen to cutting costs, she's shared some helpful advice recently, including how to prep your barbecue for summer grilling, gourmet hacks for elevating budget ingredients and what toppings to choose for different crackers.
New York Times
26-05-2025
- New York Times
He Went to Minneapolis and Never Really Left
Joshua Rashaad McFadden remembers sitting with his brothers at his grandmother's house in Rochester, N.Y., in late May of 2020, discussing a video out of Minneapolis. In the video, a Black man was pinned to the ground by police officers. One officer had a knee on the man's neck. The man, George Floyd, would soon be dead. Mr. McFadden, a photographer, got in his car and drove to Minneapolis. 'It was such a snap decision I didn't really pack anything. If I thought too much about it, I don't think I would have gone,' Mr. McFadden said in an interview with Times Insider last week. 'I took my camera. I had to buy clothes when I got there.' From Rochester, Mr. McFadden drove 1,000 miles through the night to the scenes of unrest and started taking pictures. He quickly picked up photography assignments from news organizations, including The New York Times, and stayed in Minnesota for about 10 days. Then he went home to Rochester. But he returned to Minneapolis in the fall. And returned again. Mr. McFadden estimated that he had made more than half a dozen photography trips to Minneapolis over the last five years, on assignments for The Times and other outlets. He stayed there for weeks at a time, documenting the city's wounds, its grief and its attempts to move forward. Most recently, in April, Mr. McFadden revisited George Floyd Square, the site of Mr. Floyd's fatal arrest, where members of the community still set up makeshift memorials. And he is sure he will be back again. 'I will be connected to Minneapolis for the rest of my life,' Mr. McFadden said. 'This is now a part of me.' Here are five photographs Mr. McFadden took in Minneapolis for The Times. 'You Need to Go That Way' Mr. McFadden had never been to Minneapolis before May 2020. 'As I drove into the city, I didn't know where anything was,' he said. 'I got into the city and I saw some people on the side of the street. I pulled over, got out of the car and asked them, 'Where has everything happened?' They pointed me in one direction and said, 'You need to go that way.'' The first few days were chaotic. There was arson, and there were clashes with the police. On May 28, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota activated the National Guard and instituted a nighttime curfew. But there were 'peaceful moments' too, Mr. McFadden said. Protest, prayer, embrace, destruction, all 'kind of happened simultaneously.' Under Attack In 2021, Mr. McFadden lived in Minneapolis for several weeks during the federal trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering Mr. Floyd. During Mr. Chauvin's trial, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis. Mr. McFadden covered the ensuing protests outside the police station in Brooklyn Center. A number of journalists said they had been assaulted by the police at the protest. In an interview with The Times in 2021, Mr. McFadden said that the police had beaten on his car windows with batons before beating his legs and hitting his camera lens. Mr. McFadden, who is Black, also said the officers did not believe his press credentials were real until another journalist vouched for him, which he said had happened to him and other Black journalists before. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the police to use physical force or chemical agents against journalists. A Guilty Verdict On April 20, 2021, the last day of Mr. Chauvin's trial, Mr. McFadden was taking pictures outside the courthouse when the jury announced a guilty verdict. 'I think people expected him to be found innocent,' he said. 'I remember when they announced 'guilty,' people were shocked,' he added. Mr. McFadden later went to George Floyd Square, where crowds had gathered often over the previous 11 months. By then, it was a familiar place. A Memorial that Breathes The square, near the intersection of 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn neighborhood of the city, was a kinetic memorial where new pieces of public art were always popping up. There, in April 2021, Mr. McFadden encountered Nik Malcolm and his son Cameron. They were posing in an empty frame someone had installed in front of a mural of Mr. Floyd. Mr. Malcolm said his son had kept asking him what had happened to George Floyd. So they decided to take a road trip from their home in Montgomery, Ala., to Minneapolis and visit the square, over 1,000 miles away. It sounded similar to the decision Mr. McFadden had made a year earlier. Five Years Later Mr. McFadden returned to Minneapolis this April to make photographs for a Times article about George Floyd Square, and the five years that have passed since Mr. Floyd's death. People told him that little had changed. 'From what I see, people are still upset — there is still tension in the space,' he said. 'And a deep, deep sadness.'
