The Merriam-Webster definition offers a little bit of wiggle room by defining soup as “a liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food. ”[3] X Research source Cereal, in many respects, qualifies as “a liquid food” that “often contains pieces of solid food”—and the use of “especially” leads some to speculate that savory stock isn’t the ultimate qualifier of a dish’s overall soupiness.
Cereal company Kellogg’s actually has a “Froot Loops Soup” recipe on their website. While it has a fruit juice base instead of a milk one, it does feature Froot Loops cereal as a key ingredient. [6] X Research source
Let’s take a look at this wikiHow recipe for making homemade chicken noodle soup. As simple as this recipe is, you still need to complete 12 steps to get a finished pot of soup.
Most major dictionaries don’t support cereal being a salad, either. For instance, Merriam-Webster qualifies salad as either “raw greens often combined with other vegetables and toppings” or “small pieces of food mixed with a dressing or set in gelatin. ”[10] X Research source A simple bowl of cold cereal and milk definitely doesn’t make the cut here.
