Rock soup – and don’t forget the cornbread

I ran into an old friend at the ice cream store and market.

“I need some hamburger,” he said. “I’m making rock soup.” I guess I look puzzled.

“You know about rock soup?” he asked. “It’s when you put in a whole lot of different things and then add some little rocks. I think it’s an old Indian recipe.”

“Why would you put in little rocks?” I asked suspiciously. “Wouldn’t little rocks break your teeth?”

“Well, I don’t really put any rocks in it,” he said. “I put in peas and carrots and potatoes — a whole lot of vegetables. It’s great!” he said enthusiastically. “I love soup. And it’s cheap. I’m on a budget like everyone else.”

By then, we were at the meat section. “What about meat?” I asked. “Are you using any meat?” forgetting he’d mentioned hamburger earlier.

He reached in and got a package of hamburger. “Hamburger,” he said again. “That’s what this hamburger is for. I’ll put it all in the crock pot and let it cook for about five hours. I love soup,” he said again. “I could eat it every day.”

“What kind of bread are you having with your rock soup which doesn’t have any rocks?” I asked. He looked blank. “Bread? I don’t know. I never thought about it.”

“You could make cornbread,” I suggested. “Cornbread is good with soup.”

“Cornbread?” he repeated. “Yes, I guess I could make cornbread.” He sounded a little doubtful.

“Get a box of Jiffy mix,” I suggested. “You can make it in 20 minutes.

“You know,” I told him, “your rock soup sounds a lot like an old folklore story called ‘Stone Soup” that I used to read when I was little and which I read to my grandson. It was about a man who was traveling home from a war and he was really hungry. He came to a village but all the villagers told him they were very poor and could not give him any food.

“He called them all together and said he would make stone soup for them all. All he needed was a large pot, a stone and a fire. So they brought him a pot filled with water, he dropped in a stone just the right size and put it over a fire. Then he needed salt and pepper, which they could spare. And then he talked them into running to get first carrots, then some beans, then cabbage, potatoes and, finally, some meat. They all shared the delicious soup and were amazed that stone soup could be so good.”

“Yeah,” my friend agreed. “I remember that story.”

As he checked out, he was telling the cashier that he was getting ready to make rock soup. He rattled off all the ingredients and how he was going to put them all in a crock pot and let it simmer for five hours.

“You need cornbread with that,” the cashier advised him. “Get a box of Jiffy mix and make cornbread.”

Sometimes those folk tales don’t have enough details. Like making cornbread to go with stone soup.

Mary McClure is a former newspaper editor who writes a weekly column for The Lawton Constitution.