Get to know the contenders in TasteAtlas’ list of best-rated vegetable soups
The sinigang has always been a source of Pinoy pride, even considered the national dish of the country alongside adobo. Just recently the sour broth emerged at the top of TasteAtlas’ catalog for the best-rated vegetable soups, beating 160 bowls from all over the world.
The experiential travel guide to traditional food, TasteAtlas, collates authentic recipes, food critic reviews, and research articles on popular ingredients and dishes. The website features an interactive global food map with food icons indicated in their respective regions and purportedly comprises nearly 10,000 plates, drinks, ingredients, and 9,000 restaurants.
Its mission of preserving traditional recipes and promoting authentic restaurants and source ingredients is achieved through a team of 30 authors and researchers. The study is reportedly done using all available sources and criteria from article mentions to reviews to Google Searches, as well as relevant certificates like EU food schemes, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Ark of Taste.
Apart from being the “best-rated” soup, sinigang placed 19th in the “most popular” category having 91 reviews to date. It rates almost a perfect score of 4.8 out of five.
Since Filipinos are more or less acquainted with what sinigang is, here is a list , along with the description of the other broths that made it to the top of the best-rated soups.
Mercimek Çorbası

Otherwise known as the Turkish red lentil soup of Southeast Anatolian origin, the Mercimek Çorbası is popular among the Turkish people. It is even considered one of the country’s favorite broths. It scores just .2 points under Sinigang. Similar to the majority of other Mediterranean recipes, Mercimek Çorbası is vegan and gluten-free. The standard recipe consists of olive oil, red lentils, onions, carrots, tomato paste, salt, cumin, Aleppo pepper, and black pepper. Because lentils are grown everywhere in the Mediterranean, there are countless types of lentil soup in almost all Eastern Mediterranean cuisines.
Šaltibarščiai

This traditional Lithuanian cuisine is a creamy blend of pickled or boiled beetroots and tangy kefir or buttermilk, poured over grated cucumbers, and hard-boiled eggs, seasoned with dill, and left to set until all the flavors are thoroughly combined. The cold beetroot soup is usually prepared in the summertime, best served chilled, normally with potatoes on the side. It can be enjoyed as an appetizer or a light main course.
The sinigang has always been a source of Pinoy pride, even considered the national dish of the country alongside adobo.
Fakes

Yet, another dish widely famous for a winter’s day, fakes (pronounced as fah-kehs) has a high nutritional value making it one of the best healthy family dishes in Greece. The Greek staple comprises of brown lentils, minced red onions, finely chopped garlic and carrots, bay leaves, salt, pepper, tomato paste, olive oil, which is its main ingredient aside from the lentil, and red wine vinegar, an optional component but gives depth and dimension to the flavor, lifting the lentils and adding oomph into the dish.
Borscht

This Ukrainian beet soup is usually cooked using sour beets, combining meat or bone stock with sautéed or boiled vegetables, namely cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. A pot may have meat or bouillon or neither. Borscht is traditionally served with smetana or sour cream, hard-boiled eggs, or potatoes. Other garnishes and side dishes include dumplings from uszka to pampushky.
Caldo Verde

The Portuguese green soup is a hearty soup of potatoes, chouriço sausage, olive oil, onion, salt, garlic, ground white or black pepper, and thinly sliced kale that gives it its color. Lisbon’s trendiest restaurants serve this dish, a favorite in southern European country on the Iberian Peninsula.
Here is the list of the evaluated 20 top vegetable soups and their scores.
1. Sinigang from the Philippines – 4.8/5
2. Skābeņu zupa from Latvia – 4.7/5
3. Ogbono Soup from Nigeria – 4.7/5
4. Kürbis Suppe from Austria – 4.7/5
5. Fagiolata from Italy – 4.7/5
6. Čorbast pasulj from Montenegro – 4.6/5
7. Mercimek çorbası from Turkey – 4.6/5
8. Ciorbă de praz from Romania – 4.6/5
9. Caldo gallego from Spain – 4.6/5
10. Sopa Tarasca from Mexico – 4.6/5
11. Ciorbă de fasole from Romania – 4.5/5
12. Vichyssoise from France – 4.5/5
13. Lablabi from Tunisia – 4.5/5
14. Fasolada from Greece – 4.5/5
15. Sayur asem from Indonesia – 4.5/5
16. Šaltibarščiai from Lithuania – 4.5/5
17. Aukstā zupa from Latvia – 4.5/5
18. Barszcz czysty czerwony from Poland – 4.4/5
19. Sayur lodeh from Indonesia – 4.4/5
20. Bessara from Morocco – 4.4/5