“Welcome to the first day of my perpetual stew. It’s a soup that you keep on the stove 24/7 and, as you eat it, add remnants of other preparations and a little water so it doesn’t dry out. Over time it develops very intense flavors.” Thus begins the experiment that content creator Zachary Leavitt launched on TikTok last April. Today, yours perpetual stewas it is called in English – and which in Spanish could be translated as perpetual stew or eternal soup – is almost 200 days old and has generated a community of hundreds of thousands of people around it. Day after day, this community follows the updates that Leavitt uploads to his TikTok account, describing what the flavor is like, the changes that have occurred in the consistency and color of the broth and the score he gives the result. He even gave him a name: Stewtheus.
The clay pot in which this eternal soup is cooked has gone from the most common ingredients – onion, carrot, mushrooms, chicken, beef, bones, wine or bay leaves – to the strangest and craziest ones – fern shoots, figs, preserved oysters, lettuce, pâté and even placenta in capsules. Some suggested looking up stew recipes instead of adding things to the broth at random. His response: “Did Picasso research how to paint?” It’s all trial and error, because despite knowing that certain ingredients could completely ruin the pot, Zachary proceeds without fear, with an admirable desire for experimentation and a touch of recklessness. Sometimes the result is an inedible potion, but other times things go surprisingly well.
That’s why Zachary’s perpetual stew has generated so much interest: It’s like following a series. His followers call themselves “wet crew” (the stew gang) and Stewtheus is already a kind of character to accompany in his adventures and misadventures. Those who are passionate about day 143, with curiosity go to the first video to discover what the original stew was like and thus appreciate how much it has evolved. In these more than six months there have been some dramas, like when, on day 9, Zachary left the pot full all night and the water was almost completely consumed or when he cried while trying it after exaggerating with habanero peppers—, container changes, gross mistakes—like adding Brussels sprouts, apples, or an absurd amount of wine—and emotional moments, like when the stew went on a journey to discover the world, when it was crushed, changing shape and consistency, or when Zachary filmed himself eating it for the first time on camera to prove that, in fact, he tried it every day, something that many doubted when they saw the way the broth was looking.
In fact, one of the recurring concerns that emerges in the comments of their videos is whether eating soup that has been cooked for months is safe, and whether there is no risk of poisoning. Food scientist and content creator Hydroxide created a video in which she clarifies some of the points that generate the most doubts. The most important thing is to always keep the temperature above 60°C, so that bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli do not proliferate. If the stew drops below that temperature it is best to throw it away. In the second week of the experiment, Zachary chose to place a thermometer in plain sight so that people would not suffer possible poisoning, although this thermometer faded into the background and comments questioning the healthiness of the stew appear again and again. The other fundamental point is the ingredients: the vegetables must be well washed and the meat better if cooked. This minimizes the risks, although it does not eliminate them completely. One might say that eternal soup is not 100% safe, although so far Zachary has reported no stomach problems.
There are also those who worry about the cost of the electricity bill, although in this case there is no reason to be alarmed, given that the energy consumption of the pot is lower than that of other household appliances. And there’s much debate about whether it’s a stew or a soup, given the broth’s rather runny consistency, though Zachary refers to his creation both ways, depending on the day. Other food safety recommendations circulating on the internet insist on trying to eat as many solid ingredients as possible every day and on leaving only the broth to cook in the pot and, from time to time, filtering everything to “renew” the soup with fresh ingredients. Zachary didn’t strain his soup until day 102, which makes many people reluctant to go near that thing called “stew” whose color has long resembled that of used motor oil.
The fact that it is a constant experiment and that Zachary does not have much knowledge of cooking generates a feeling of engaging unpredictability and an inevitable empathy with the creator. He takes suggestions on ingredients, making the stew a participatory effort, and people give him advice on how to move forward or what things he should avoid. There is a certain spirit of collective learning.
Among the reasons Zachary gives for keeping the perpetual stew alive for so long is the fact that he always has a hot meal available, which can also help save a little money, as many leftovers and cuts of meat are used that don’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t shy away from the cons, though: Everything turns brown if you cook it too long, and the smell can be overpowering. Even so, since their experiment started going viral, other content creators have been encouraged to start their own perpetual stews, which like Stewtheus, also have their own name. Soupina, Jarlica and Brotholemew are three of the most popular on TikTok, although there are many others.
A tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages
Far from being a simple social media trend, the history of these stews is long and fascinating. In Europe everything indicates that the tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. Some sources place their birth in Poland, in the 14th century, where they were called “hunters’ stews” and were prepared with the meat of hunted animals, vegetables and aromatic herbs. Zachary wasn’t wrong when he said that one of the great virtues of the perpetual stew is that you always have a hot meal on hand to put in your mouth, since in the Middle Ages, that cauldron that constantly filled with what was available was a guarantee that, even in difficult times, there would always be a hearty soup to eat, a broth that retained the flavor of many previous broths.
An article from New York Times from 1981 mentions the existence of a 300-year-old stew in Normandy and speaks of another in Perpignan that was cooked from the 15th century until the Second World War. These stews were called pot-au-feu and they were dishes based on meat and vegetables, very similar to our stews, whose name has survived the passage of time, even if today they are no longer prepared in cauldrons perpetually on the fire. In that same article it is explained that there could also be a practical motivation behind these stews: lighting a wood fire was more expensive than feeding it and keeping it lit constantly. Likewise, why not give the same soup every time instead of making one from scratch every time?
In 2023, the perpetual stew started by Annie Rauwerda, creator of the popular Depths of Wikipedia account, in New York went viral. In his case he was vegan and collaborative; He held several events where people could bring their own ingredients to add to the broth and created a website where he documented the entire process. It lasted two months. And one of the most famous eternal soups is that of Wattana Panich, a restaurant in Bangkok, which has been cooking it for more than 50 years. They empty the container every day to clean it and keep a small amount aside which they continue to cook all night. The next day they add it to a new soup, to which they add more broth and fresh ingredients. Those who have tried it agree on the depth of its flavor.
Soup has the ability to generate almost instant comfort and well-being, to warm us on cold days and everything seems to indicate that, if it cooks continuously and becomes a sort of shared experiment, it is also capable of gathering around itself an enormous community of people committed to ensuring that the fire that fuels it never goes out.
