UPDATE | The Soup Peddler

The Soup Peddler (David Ansel), a case study in the art of remarkabalizing a business, is currently on summer sabbatical. (When it’s 99 degrees in the badlands of Central Texas, the last thing on your mind is scarfing down a bowl of Bouillabaisse Marseillaise. Dig?) Just because he’s on sabbatical doesn’t mean the Soup Peddler isn’t keeping busy.

He’s updated his blog with humorous tales while on the Canadian soup trail and 10 Speed Press has just published David’s long-simmering book, The Soup Peddler’s Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes & Reveries.

I leafed through the book while perusing the shelves at BookPeople this week. It’s a fun read recounting the ups/downs of David’s second season dealing with the unwieldy growth and unreal personalities of his Soup Peddler business.

For more on the Soup Peddler, check out previous postings on Brand Autopsy. And for more on The Soup Peddler’s Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes & Reveries book … read the description below lifted directly from Amazon:

With just a custom-made yellow bike, a used bike trailer, and a few two-quart containers of homemade gumbo, David Ansel began peddling soup to his friends and neighbors in the close-knit community of Bouldin Creek in Austin, Texas. Many flat tires and gallons of soup later, his delivery route has grown from 17 soup subscribers, or "soupies," to more than 700 and counting.

In SLOW AND DIFFICULT SOUPS, Ansel (aka the Soup Peddler) ladles out generous bowlfuls of some of the most delicious and lovingly seasoned soups you’ll ever taste. This heart-and belly-warming illustrated memoir is an offbeat homage to the art, science, and joy of soup, offering a utopian vision of a community brought together through their love of spoon-licking comfort food.

The Soup Peddler shares humorous stories about the eccentric folks who populate Bouldin Creek, along with classic and exotic creations like South Austin Chili, Smoked Tomato Bisque,Chompy-Chomp Black Bean Soup, and Bouillabaisse Marseillaise. A taste of simpler times in our modern fast-food nation, SLOW AND DIFFICULT SOUPS is a rousing reminder of our basic need to connect to our food —and those who cook, deliver, and slurp it.