A specific region of a European country with one border prides itself on a certain 'fictional' dish on all their menus in the local restaurants. This dish tells of a fable about 'co-operation' and has connotations akin to the famous rhetorical question that refers to optimists and pessimists. What is it, what is the fable, where does it come from and what would you get if you ordered it?

Sabine06

The dish is Stone Soup. The fable is that some travellers came to a village where the locals weren't willing to share their food with them. They started a pot of water boiling with just a stone it ... one by one the curious villagers added ingredients to the soup until a hearty soup is produced which is shared by all. The story supposedly comes from Almeirim,Portugal where it's now a common menu item. There is a link to a recipe at the bottom of the following page - my Portuguese isn't very good but it seems to contain pork and beans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_soup Jun 19 06, 7:34 PM

peasypod

Yes, Sabine, Stone Soup it is, and amusingly I put the ingredients from your reference into an online translater and this is what it came up as: 1 liter of incarnate beans 1 ear of pig 1 black chouriço (of blood of the region) 1 chouriço of meat 150 larded lard g 750 potato g 2 onions 2 teeth of garlic 1 leaf of parrot 1 gravy of coentros salt and pepper Now, while the parrot leaf does sound tempting, along with the pigs ear, I think I'll opt for my recipe I found with lettuce, egg, onion, and lots of garlic. http://www.algarve-info.com/gastronomy/soups.htm Jun 19 06, 8:04 PM