It was a beautiful, spring-like mid-March day in Salt Lake City. People thronged into the Sheraton Hotel for the 24th annual Art and Soup celebration. The purpose of this event is to raise money for Community Nursing Services. Most of the artists donate 40 percent of their
proceeds to this cause.
With John Collins as the featured artist this year and an impressive ice sculpture at the entrance, the atmosphere was upbeat and the food excellent. The Silver Fork Lodge served up lemon chicken noodle soup as we entered. In all, 22 local restaurants presented food. It was fun to go around and sample the wonderful flavors.
I was most interested in the paintings that were done with layers of hot wax using beeswax with pigments on the surface, a technique called encaustic painting. With a hot press, Marian Dunn and her two associates run the wax over the surface several times. They put small leaves and flowers on another layer to make a three- dimensional effect. This technique was used to create mummy portraits on early icons in Egypt around 100-300 A.D.
After tasting most of the soups, I thought the Tin Angel Cafe had the most unique recipe (tomato basil with vegetables and won tons). Siragusaʼs Italian Cuisineʼs pasta was delicious too.
The Ben and Jerryʼs ice cream and huge cookies were good for some sweet treats, as were the pastries from Cakes de Fleur. The whole afternoon was an “epicurean delight” for a good cause.
