Transcript: Soup Peddler

Austin Connoisseur
Episode “Soup Peddler”

David Ansel: I like to develop relationships with the customers, the soupys, like a one off to deliver to someone one time, it kind of feels like a failure to me. To actually be a part of some ones household and be a part of how they eat is to me that’s, that’s what I want.
My name is David Ansel and I am the soup peddler. And we are here at the soup peddler world headquarters. And we are about five houses down from where the business started, here on Mary Street in south Austin. I first learned bout soup by getting a degree in electrical engineering.
I was always sort if just enchanted. But you know the moneys good, but it is kind of this cage with golden bars. A couple of things kind of collided to make me, make a leap of faith like this. One was a trip to Africa, for about four months. That kind of demonstrated to me that I really had far too much security in my life and lived in such a land of opportunity that I could really try anything. And I had such a strong safety net underneath me that it was; you know failure wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
I started this business about five years ago, a little over five years ago out of my home. I kind of kicked off the business by just sending an email out to all my friends asking if they wanted some soup delivered. The bicycle thing was not really meant to be that much of a shtick; I had kind of quit my job because I wanted to kind of have more control over my day to day existence. And one of the things I wanted to do is not be a part of the rat race and not have to drive back and forth to work everyday.
I just love the freedom of being ion a bicycle so I thought if I am doing his I might as well, I will do it on a bike. The demand started growing to the point where I had o take the leap and borrow some money on a credit card and open this place. That was probably three years ago or so. Since then we have expanded into the next unit and that’s changed quite a bit. I have hired chefs and we have delivery trucks now, and a general manager. It is a really kind of stable year round business for the first time really.
It took several years to get to this point. The uniqueness of the gesture that I was making and like that there was slow food, homemade food being delivered on a slow mean of transportation. I realized how much it charmed people here. And so we kept up with the bike for a good long time. But now it’s kind of been relegated to kind of an occasional Tuesday afternoon deliveries in the original neighborhood.
I have been in Austin for about almost nine years. He for forty days I was here were over a hundred degrees, but I still stayed. I think my favorite thing in Austin are Bouldin Creek coffee shop is one of my favorite things, going to Jovitas on Thursday nights to see the Cornell Herd band. I really believe that Austin is this special, special place. I don know how it happened, or what things collided to make this be an attractant to jus kind and gentle people. And I think the thing about Austin that make this business so, what made it happen is that the communities are very tight here. There is so much connection between people. It is like this very fertile ground for spreading of ideas.
People here also really appreciate, well people obviously really appreciate independent businesses and business that have an opinion and have a clear identity. My influences are the grandmothers of the world, informal food from around the world. Like street food and kind of small stands, where there is not much between you and the person that made it.
Soup is kind of an expression of caring, like when you make soup for someone, it is an expression of love. There is one main thing about making a good pot of soup and that’s patience. Soup is one of those things that can’t really be rushed. Like with a few exceptions. Making stock I kind of like the alchemy part of cooking. Where you turn like scraps, into gold almost. And it is something a lot of people don’t do.
That’s kind of the real essence o making soup. You know some of the stocks just by themselves are so rich and so deep. That that’s really to me the big experience bout making soup is tasting that depth, kind of getting lost in that. I think I like to kind of recommend to people they kind of put away the recipe and try to just focus on what they are trying to accomplish.
You don’t jus throw everything in a pot, its almost like painting where you kind of make base coats, and then you start narrowing your strokes using smaller brushes and then at the very end you are kind of adding little accents. And there are definitely steps in soup making like that. Soup is like your first food when you’re a child. It is your last food when you’re old.
Soup is love is just a kind of three word way of saying how soup touches people and how it is an expression of caring. When you make soup for someone and this is kind of our little catch phrase. My name is David Ansel, and I am a connoisseur.