Local Soup Camp Teaches Refugees
SYRACUSE N.Y. (CITRUSTV NEWS) — Syracuse’s Adam Sudmann and his students have a main thing in common: big dreams.
Sudmann’s Soup Camp, a new project where English Language Learners gather to learn how to make different types of soup from a variety of countries. It took off on Feb. 26 for the first time. The soup, an Iranian pomegranate-based soup, sold out handily.
Soup Camp began as a simple idea of selling soup at the regional market each Sunday, adopting a “pay what you want” model to encourage patrons to try soup from around the world.
“When you buy a soup for yourself, a beautiful soup that someone’s cooked,” Sudmann said, “it’s cooked with a whole lot of love and pride.”
Sudmann said that the faces behind the food consist of those who face food insecurity, or folks who are afraid of going out of their house potentially due to ICE threats.
“They [get] to feel that comfort,” Sudmann said.
On the first day of Soup Camp, Sudmann’s English language students gathered to learn how to cook soups and practice English, sharpening their cooking skills along with life skills. Sudmann says Soup Camp is another opportunity to help prepare his students for dreams, jobs, and careers in the Syracuse area – a goal that inspired his move to Syracuse 10 years ago.
“We [all] have other dreams, and we have other experiences in our past,” Sudmann said. “My work for the past 10 years in this town has been finding talent and giving people that extra three percent. They’ve got 97 percent of what they need [to succeed], I’ve got some of the boring stuff like how to navigate bureaucracy or work efficiently in a kitchen or how to order food.”
Sudmann’s students have a wide spectrum of dreams, ranging from opening their own bakeries to working stable jobs in hospital cafeterias or other service jobs. Soup Camp is one way that Sudmann tries to help his students attain these goals.
Beyond the classroom, Sudmann has even bigger hopes for Soup Camp. He plans to put a few soups into grocery stores, continuing the “buy one, give one” model. Sudmann’s past experience with Salt City Market was a success, laying the groundwork for potential success in the future.
Next month, Soup Camp will make a Sudanese peanut-based soup — peanuts roasted Sudanese-style — an authentic, rich dish to fill out the month of March. The following month, the kitchen will be filled with coconut and lemongrass scents that hail from Burma. That’s Sudmann’s goal – taking dreams off the back burner and helping them come true.
Reporter: Fiona McHugh
