What is Italian Wedding Soup?
It’s very hard to trace the origins of Italian wedding soup, and when exactly this soup, a variant of minestrone with meatballs, was first connected to weddings. In Italy the soup is called ministra maritata. Maritata translates as marriage, and many food historians believe that marriage referred to the ingredients mixed together, not to the soup being served at marriages. Italian wedding soup ingredients and style may date back to the Romans, but its name may be much newer. An alternate name for the soup is pignato grasso. Today, you’ll find some Italian families in the US who insist the soup is traditional at weddings. This may explain why it kept its name in translation. The soup is surely not only for weddings; restaurants like The Olive Garden® serve it from time to time. Mostly you’ll find this soup in Italian restaurants on the East Coast in the US, but its popularity is growing.
