Soups

🇯🇲Jamaica

Mannish Water

Goat head, tripe and feet boiled with green banana, yam, spinners, pimento and a splash of white rum, served at weddings and celebrations.

🇮🇲Isle of Man

Manx Broth

Manx Broit

A hearty traditional soup of shin beef or mutton with pearl barley, turnip, carrot, parsnip, leek, cabbage, thyme, and parsley; historically served at Manx weddings in wooden bowls called 'piggins' with mussel-shell spoons.

🇺🇿Uzbekistan

Mastava

A Uzbek rice soup with meat, vegetables, and herbs

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Mastoba

Мастоба

A thick rice and lamb soup with vegetables, finished at the table with a large spoon of sour chakka.

🇮🇱Israel

Matzo Ball Soup

קניידלך

Dumplings of matzo meal, egg and fat poached in clear chicken broth, served one or two to a bowl at Passover and through the winter.

🇻🇮Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands

Maufè

Indigenous Crucian soup combining salt meat, fish, fresh tomatoes, and local herbs; nicknamed 'two fungi' because cornmeal fungi is both sprinkled on top and added to the mixture as a thickener.

🇲🇷Mauritania

Mauritanian Harira

Moroccan-inspired soup of meat, chickpeas, lentils, tomatoes, and herbs; the traditional Ramadan iftar dish in Mauritania, adapted from Moroccan harira with local spice preferences; served with dates and bread to break the fast.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Halim

Halim

A thick soup of split peas, cracked wheat and shredded mutton or chicken, cooked down for hours and finished with fried onion, coriander and lemon.

🇦🇫Afghanistan

Maushawa

ماشاوه

Mung beans, chickpeas and rice cooked into a thick soup with small meatballs and finished with yoghurt and dried mint.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Mbanga Soup

Palm nuts pounded and pressed for their thick red juice, then cooked with smoked fish and country spices into a soup eaten with kwacoco.

🇲🇳Mongolia

Meat Pie Soup

Хуушуурт шөл

Broth of mutton and vegetables served with fried khuushuur alongside for dipping, a roadside driver's meal.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Meatball Soup

Супа топчета

Small pork-and-rice meatballs poached in a light vegetable broth soured with lemon or yogurt, scattered with parsley.

🇷🇴Romania

Meatball Sour Soup

Ciorbă de perișoare

Small pork and rice meatballs in a vegetable broth soured with fermented wheat bran liquor, finished with lovage.

🇵🇪Peru

Menestrón

Peruvian minestrone enriched with Andean herbs, beans, pasta and local vegetables.

🇲🇽Mexico

Menudo

A robust tripe and hominy soup simmered in a red chile broth, seasoned with oregano and lime, traditionally served on weekends.

🇹🇷Turkey

Mercimek Çorbası

A creamy red lentil soup made by simmering lentils with onion, carrot, and tomato paste, then blending until smooth. Finished with a drizzle of melted butter infused with red pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon. It is the most common soup in Turkey, served at nearly every restaurant and household.

🇷🇺Urals, Russia

Milk Mushroom Soup

Груздянка

Milk mushroom soup is a Ural soup made from milk mushrooms, potatoes, and onions, with an earthy flavour.

🇲🇹Malta

Minestra

Dense Maltese vegetable soup of pumpkin, marrow, cauliflower, beans and pasta, cooked until nearly a purée.

🇸🇮Slovenian Littoral, Slovenia

Minestra

Mineštra

Coastal and Karst one-pot of beans, potato, corn and whatever vegetables the season gives, thickened by cooking rather than flour.

🇮🇹Italy

Minestra di ceci

In Italy, Minestra di ceci is a rustic chickpea soup simmered with onion, rosemary, and olive oil until creamy.

🇮🇹Italy

Minestra di farro

In Italy, Minestra di farro is a hearty farro soup with beans, tomato, onion, and herbs.

🇮🇹Tuscany, Italy

Minestra di pane

In Tuscany, Minestra di pane is a bread soup with stale bread, kale, beans, tomato, and olive oil.

🇮🇹Abruzzo, Italy

Minestra di sedani

In Abruzzo, Minestra di sedani is a soup of sedani pasta, vegetables, and light broth served hot.

🇮🇹Basilicata, Italy

Minestra spersa

In Basilicata, Minestra spersa is a rustic soup of irregular egg-dough pieces simmered in savoury broth.

🇮🇹Rome, Italy

Minestra spezzata

In Rome, Minestra spezzata is a soup of broken pasta pieces simmered in broth with egg and cheese.

🇮🇹Italy

Minestra sporca

In Brescia, Minestra sporca is a dark vegetable and bread soup enriched with beans and local greens.

🇮🇹Italy

Minestrone

A thick seasonal vegetable soup of beans, carrots, celery, onion, tomato, and often pasta or rice. Every region and household has its own version.

🇺🇸United States

Minorcan Clam Chowder

A St. Augustine, Florida chowder made with datil peppers — spicy, tomato-based, and thin.

🇯🇵Japan

Miso Soup

味噌汁

The essential Japanese soup of miso paste dissolved in dashi with tofu, wakame, and scallions.

🇳🇪Niger

Miyan Geda

Northern Nigerian groundnut soup cooked with aromatics and meat or fish.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Miyan Kubewa

Northern Nigerian dried-okra soup, thickened with okra and served with a swallow.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Miyan Kuka

Powdered baobab leaf cooked into a dark, slippery northern soup with dried meat, dawadawa and pepper.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Miyan Taushe

Pumpkin cooked down with groundnut paste, spinach and meat into a thick orange northern soup, mildly sweet.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Miyan Yakuwa

Hausa sorrel-leaf soup cooked with aromatics and meat or fish for a tangy northern Nigerian bowl.

🇲🇲Myanmar

Mohinga

မုန့်ဟင်းခါး

Thin rice vermicelli in a thick catfish and toasted chickpea-flour broth built on lemongrass, banana stem and ginger, topped with split-pea fritters, coriander and lime. Mohinga is a nationwide Myanmar breakfast dish.

🇺🇸United States

Mojakka

A Finnish-American fish chowder from the Great Lakes region: whitefish or salmon simmered with potatoes in a creamy milk broth.