For as long as humans have been cooking food over a fire, soup has been eaten in one form or another - from the earliest, most basic broths left over from simmering ingredients in a pot of water to sophisticated concoctions, specially created to be served and eaten on their own. Soup is made and eaten all over the world, from Italian zuppa, German suppe and Balkan iorb to Vietnamese sup, Persian shorbo and Central Asian sorpa or shorpo. They all share a common texture characteristic, which is that they are all liquid dishes, usually served in bowls.