Columns
By Kay West
If you have managed to avoid the flu or a flu-like illness so far this year, count yourself lucky or the recipient of a successful flu shot—though not quite out of the woods yet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, flu season runs from December through March. Over the last two decades, the heaviest month for sickness has been February by a long shot, followed by January, then December, then finally March, when it starts to peter out.
This year, February also proved to be the wettest month, logging above-normal rainfall, and it was certainly the grayest. As if things weren’t gloomy enough, on Feb. 27, we lost one of the world’s most unremittingly cheery persons, Mr. Rogers. I bawled my eyes out when I heard.
None of this is good for anyone’s immune system. I don’t mean to brag, but I can’t remember the last time I had a serious cold or flu-like illness, and I haven’t had the flu since the winter of 1978. It was a near-death experience, and I set my mind to never letting it happen again. That vow does not extend to taking a flu shot, a measure I am inexplicably and irrevocably opposed to. Whenever I feel a flu-like illness coming on, I simply nip it in the bud with equal parts zinc lozenges, Emer’gen-C, Halls Defense Multi-Blend lozenges, pink grapefruit juice, buckets of Echinacea tea with lemon quarters and pure honey, and sheer stubbornness.
It worked until late February, when out of the blue, I woke up on a Sunday morning to find that a flu-like illness had snuck right up on me and invaded my personal wellness space. I was coughing, congested, achy, cranky and so tired I managed only to move from my bed to the sofa, where I remained much of the day, immersing myself in the aforementioned antidotes. By late afternoon I was so disgusted with my weakness, I dragged myself up and painted my office. I do not recommend this. By Monday, as fever set in and every other symptom worsened, I was close to surrendering.
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It was then that an angel of mercy appeared, in the guise of my friend Janet, delivering a quart of chicken soup. Forget chicken soup for the soul, the nurse, the lawyer, the golfer, the volunteer, the pet lover, the teen, the preteen, the senior or any of those other sappy books. When the flu bug hits, all that will do is chicken soup for the body. And I’m not talking Campbell’s.
In this case, it was an emergency dose of chicken garlic noodle soup from International Market, prepared specifically to attack this evil illness. It took me nearly six hours of intermittent doses, but by that evening, I had finished it all. Even so, at bedtime, my fever had risen to 103 degrees, and every part of my body, including my hair and eyeballs, was hurting.
Imagine my shock when I woke up the next morning fever-free. I was not totally cured, but was well on the road to recovery. I have to give credit to Patti Myint, owner of International Market, and her soup. Asked to analyze the amazing restorative powers of her soup, she just laughs and lists the ingredients: chicken broth, fresh chicken, bean sprouts, cellophane noodles, cilantro, onion, pickled radish, fish sauce, freshly cracked black pepper, and lots of chopped fresh garlic on top. She concedes that it can do the trick, but in her opinion, the market’s chicken rice soup with ginger (and magic garlic) is even more effective for fighting colds and flu. Flu sufferers with uneasy stomachs would do well to stick to the lemongrass soup, she says, which has a clear broth, with no noodles or rice.
I am sure my rapid return to wellness would also have benefited from a bowl of the hearty chicken soup with egg noodles from Noshville, or the matzo ball soup with chicken and noodles from Goldie’s Deli. Often referred to as the Jewish penicillin, chicken soup has long been a staple of the Jewish family’s cold-fighting, cold-weather repertoire. Jerry Young, a manager of Noshville, says sales go through the roof during the winter, particularly the quart containers to-go.
Goldie Morris, who owns Goldie’s with husband Jeff, says that their store sells far more matzo ball soup than chicken noodle soup during the winter, thanks to a large Jewish clientele. They also get a steady business from nearby St. Thomas Hospital, both from the medical and administrative staff, and also from folks taking soup to patients. She cites a Harvard Medical School study that proved chicken soup has curative powers. “It is so easy going down, and is a very comforting food,” she says. “We use kosher chickens of course, and that makes a difference.” (This is good news for anyone who objects to the mass-market poultry industry, which treats both chickens and workers poorly.)
Misha Ruth Cohen has combined the best of both worlds—Asian and Jewish—at her San Francisco clinic, The Chicken Soup Chinese Medicine Clinic. The doctor of Oriental medicine attests on her Web site to the benefits of chicken soup, and offers this recipe.
Chinese ginger chicken soup
1. Remove skin from a 3-pound whole chicken; stewing chickens are the most flavorful.
2. Place whole in a 10-quart pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.
3. Add five scallions, sliced lengthwise and in half.
4. Cut one fresh ginger root in half, and slice into slivers about one half-inch long and 1/16th-inch wide, and add to pot.
5. Simmer chicken, scallions and ginger, covered, for about one and a half hours.
6. When finished, remove chicken and debone. Return chicken chunks to pot. (Mrs. Myint would recommend adding chopped fresh garlic. Can’t hurt, nor could some salt and pepper to taste.)