The Old-School Campbell's Soups We Desperately Wish Would Make A Comeback

It may not be the best time to be Campbell's. The iconic soup company recently made the wrong kind of headlines when a Campbell executive (no longer with the company, for obvious reasons) disparaged their customer base, alleging the company used "3-D printed meat" in a leaked audio recording. But Campbell's has survived plenty of other controversies in its past, and we're sure they'll push past this one, too. (And if they don't, at least they got that cool Andy Warhol painting out of it.) If they really want to make things better for themselves, though, we have a suggestion: bring back those frozen soups! (We expect that our million-dollar consultancy check is in the mail right now.)

Not unlike frozen orange juice, Campbell's once sold frozen versions of their soup in weird little sideways tubes. The idea was that, by freezing them rather than condensing them, they could preserve more of the flavor and texture of the soups. Accordingly, their options were usually creamier and heartier than the condensation process would usually allow, including clam chowder, cream of potato, and green pea with ham. As tempting as all that sounds, convenience usually wins out in the heart of the American consumer, and even a short wait for the soup to thaw was too long. At some point in the 1970s, the line was discontinued — for consumers, anyway.

While you unfortunately can't buy those funky little sideways cans at the supermarket for yourself, you can still enjoy a frozen soup experience from Campbell's — provided you run a restaurant, anyway. Campbell's offers a number of soup options through Ginsberg's, a foodservice distributor, that are delivered frozen in bulk so they can be thawed and served. They offer the usual array of Campbell's classics, including chicken noodle, tomato, cream of broccoli, and even Italian wedding soup.

Like we said, this may not be the most practical option for you — unless you're willing to start a restaurant just so you can enjoy Campbell's frozen soup (in which case we can't help but question your priorities). But it's nice to know that the spirit of those creamy bowls of thawed potato soup still lives on through the wonders of restaurants cutting a couple of corners. (If you'd like to make your own soup from scratch, you can always start by taking Ina Garten's advice and making your own stock.)