My Cabbage Soup Saga

By Nechama Dina Smith

Welcome to my first blog entry!

A few years ago I saw a documentary series called The Truth About Cancer, which may be controversial, I’m not sure, but it was very intriguing to me. In one of their follow-up emails they sent a recipe for anti-cancer cabbage soup. I was impressed that one could put so many beneficial ingredients together and offer healing in such a delectable way.

A few months later I was in my children’s school for pickup, and at one particular moment security came running and in panicked voices yelled to all parents and children to get inside the building immediately. So there we were, squashed together in the lobby, with people we liked, and some that we didn’t, and we were shaking like leaves. We had no idea what was happening. Was this a terror attack? Nowadays, threats of terror attacks are real. There is no shortage of murderers who hate for no reason. And there are many sad stories that have occurred. Was something awful about to happen? Some of our elementary students were still upstairs in their homework program. Were they okay? What was happening? Everything was quiet but still the fear was on everyone’s faces. I don’t want to die! kept pounding in my head. I don’t want any of us to die! And I prayed. And I told G-d that I would make cabbage soup for sick people. You may ask, what is the connection between cabbage soup and a possible terror attack? But that thought relaxed me, and I focused on that as I breathed in and out and held on to my little ones, thinking hopeful thoughts about my older ones upstairs.

It turned out that there had been gunshots at a local Walmart a couple of blocks away so the whole chaos was a precautionary measure. They didn’t know if those shots indicated that,

G-d forbid, anyone evil was heading our way or not.

In a few minutes, we got an all-clear signal and we gave a collective audible exhale.

Thus began my cabbage soup saga. I won’t bore you with all the details, though for me it was anything but boring. To combine vegetables that actually help kill cancer cells, rebuild a healthy immune system, add some flavor and love, and then deliver it to people with cancer, hoping they would eat it and get nourishment and healing from it—this took lots of energy!

Besides for the shopping and estimating amounts, the washing and checking, chopping and sauteeing, simmering, cooling off, packaging, and delivering, there was the more difficult part of finding out who needed soup, if she would agree to try it, how much she wanted, and then follow up to see if she liked it, make adjustments accordingly, and not take it personally if she was not interested. That last part took a toll on me. Even though I understood that people’s pain and overwhelming nausea could prevent them from even thinking about a strange new soup, I so badly wanted them to give it a try. It was hard for me to be pushy and convince strangers to taste my soup. A friend took over that part and was excellent at it. Still I didn’t have lots of “customers,” but just enough to keep my Sundays hectic.

One of my “customers” became a good friend of mine and inspired me with her faith. She had been told by her oncologist that she had five months to live. She looked her doctor in the eye and told her, I will live till 120, if G-d wills. She is still here, five years later, living and working and overseeing her household. She was so good about taking my soup. She even ate the seaweed in there—anything to help her get better! She also eats completely organic, and adds alternative supplements to to her ongoing chemotherapy treatments. Things like fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, b17, avoiding even a small amount of sugar, and other things I don’t know about.

After a few years of soup making, I got tired. Even though my lovely friend started helping me with the soup preparation and it was fun schmoozing as we chopped side by side, still life got busier and more blessed, and people started ordering my products besides for my regular job... and I took a break. I'm not worried about my friend who eats really well. But then there are the others. Hopefully two friends may take over my duties. And instead, I will write the recipe here so maybe even more people can benefit. People can cook this as a regular healthy soup. (I happen to think it’s heavenly). And we should all be taking care of our health!

Before I detail how to make this soup, I want to share why I think this project came about as a direct outshoot of the fear of a terrorist attack.

We are put on this planet to serve a higher purpose and in order to do so, we must live! G-d entreats from us, You shall choose life! The crazy people who want to murder and maim, they only deepen our convictions of what we are really here for: to make ourselves and the world better, finer, more spiritually attuned, and more ethical and kind. Its the opposite of these people that we fear! We are not evil like them, but are we really the opposite? Do we give, love, and nurture always? Are we building life? The world is built on kindness! We need to get to work!

I take my lesson from two very special midwives from many years ago. When the terrible Pharaoh in Egypt commanded the midwives to kill all Jewish baby boys as they were being born, they did not listen. The wording that is used to show how they let the infants live really means, they made them live. They went to the opposite extreme. They made sure there weren’t any natural deaths. They did everything in their power to keep the babies alive, safe and healthy. And they were rewarded with everlasting rewards.

As people who share the world with others, let’s look out for each other and be helpful and kind. Don’t think my soup-making was a huge kindness. All around me, amazing people do countless kind deeds every day. This was the one small thing I chose!

Here is the recipe. I’ve added herbs and more goodies to the original recipe. Each ingredient is beneficial for cancer, so if you can’t get ahold of every single one, use as many as you are able to find. Also, I’ve learned that choosing organic is not only good because of the lack of pesticides, but the way the plant grows, with much more stress than the plants who are sprayed and don’t have to “work hard” fighting insects, that very stress brings out much higher levels of antioxidants and other wonderful qualities in the vegetable. Stress for vegetables is good! (maybe for people too…) So at least for this soup, try your best to use organic ingredients.

Anti-Oxidant Cabbage Vegetable Soup

Makes between 12 and 18 cups of soup

Ingredients:

Water

2 T. dried burdock root

1 rib kombu seaweed

4-5 bay leaves

2 T. red clover blossoms, 2 T. dried lemongrass, 2 T. dried rosemary (any or all)

Extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

6-7 ribs of celery, washed and sliced (I remove most of the fibrous strands too)

Couple handfuls of mushrooms (I like to use healthy ones, such as shitake or maitake, but any will do), washed, dried, and chopped

2 inches fresh ginger root, peeled and grated (you can use a little more or less, depending on how gingery you like it)

2 inches fresh turmeric root, peeled and grated (use gloves so you don’t stain your hands) or a tablespoon of the powder

1 or 2 bunches of scallions, washed, checked for bugs, dried and chopped.

One or 2 bulbs of garlic, peeled

1 medium-large cabbage, checked for bugs and chopped

Black pepper to taste (make sure to include as this hugely increases the potency of the turmeric)

Sea salt, to taste

(For added flavor and other nutrients, if desired: butternut squash or sweet potato)

Directions:

Soak one rib of kombu seaweed in a cup of water.

In a small sauce pan, boil 4 cups of water. Add burdock root, bay leaves, and the soaked kombu. If you are using shitake mushrooms, you can include the stems in this water.

Lower the fire and let simmer, covered, 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add red clover blossoms, lemongrass, and/or rosemary. Shut the fire and leave covered for 20 more minutes.

Meanwhile, in a big pot with a thick bottom (stock pots have thin bottoms so I don’t recommend them for this), heat up 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil on medium flame.

Add chopped onions, sauté about 5-10 minutes.

Add carrots and celery, sauté another 5 -10 minutes

Add ginger and turmeric, scallions and garlic.

Add cabbage.

Add other optional vegetables of your choice.

Add extra virgin olive oil as necessary, maybe another few tablespoons.

Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Strain the water that was hosting the seaweed, burdock roots and teas into the soup so only the liquid goes in. Rinse off the seaweed and add it to the soup pot. Add more water as needed.

Bring to a boil.

Lower fire and simmer till everything is nice and soft, about 1 hour.

Please let me know how your soup-making went!