Chilled soups provide summer vegetable needs.

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

Chilled vegetable soups are growing in popularity for summer, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), because they offer refreshing ways to start a meal or take the edge off hunger with a "grab-and-go" snack. Low in calories, rich-tasting, and easily prepared, chilled soups are a convenient way to help reach the number of daily servings of vegetables recommended for optimum health.

Many chilled soups, like gazpacho, were developed in the Mediterranean region, where summers are long and hot. Even in more-northern climes, though, chilled soups have become classics, such as Eastern Europe's deeply flavored beet soups, borscht and chlodnik, and the sorrel soup, shchav. Chilled soups are also popular in Scandinavia, but perhaps the most famous, vichyssoise, was created by a French chef.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat a limited amount and variety of vegetables. Although nutrition experts consider it more a starchy staple, the potato...