Melanie Lutz's book
Everything is Soup:
Sicilian Wisdom, Nourishment
and Recipes for a Delicious Life
"Take the cannoli leave the soup"
Soundtrack single pulled from the delight of a local Italian street festival where musicians heat up the night air with the joyful call to dance. If you feel inspired make your own celebration of soup with a video across socials. Song can be found by searching music sections of YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, IG, Apple Music, etc.
James Lutz, Thelma Lutz and Little Mel
EVERYTHING IS SOUP:
Sicilian Wisdom, Nourishment & Recipes for a Delicious Life
A heartwarming blend of ancestral stories, soul-nourishing recipes, and everyday rituals. Release Date: October 23, 2025.
ABOUT THE BOOK
There’s a rhyming Italian expression for saying “take it or leave it” that goes "o mangi questa minestra o salti dalla finestra." It means “either eat this soup or throw yourself out the window.” Take your medicine. It sums up the wisdom and loving nourishment available in the rooted, passionate, fiercely loyal stubbornness at the heart of the family Sunday dinner—turning every meal into a feast, every argument into an act of love, and every outsider into family, whether they like it or not.
What if the secret to a delicious life was already simmering on your stove?
Everything is Soup brews recipes, rituals, and real-life Sicilian wisdom in one beautiful collection. It’s part memoir, part cookbook, part love letter to the soul of the kitchen, the herbs of the garden and the alchemical stone of a delicious life.
Inside, you’ll find seasonal soups to warm your bones, stories passed down from generations of strong hearted women, and a reminder nourishment, real nourishment, goes beyond what’s in the bowl.
Whether you’re stirring a pot on Sunday or needing a reminder that you’re not alone, this cookbook is here to say: Amore, everything is soup.
What’s Inside
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18+ comforting soup recipes for the season's of life
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Sicilian kitchen magic, family sayings, and funny wisdom
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Handwritten notes, botanical illustrations, and color photos
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Nourishment rituals and reflections to feed your heart and soul
SOUP IS LIFE - Delivering Independent Publishing Options
💛 Community-Supportive Pricing Tiers
We are offering a sliding scale and pay-it-forward for accessibility and mutual care. Please email us your requested tier from the options below or click on the payment | purchase links after the description.
Ships Oct. 23rd
Digital Soup Diva $9.99 - $11.99
Ebook
Available for pre-order on Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, Smashwords, Baker & Taylor, Gardners, Vivlio / Thalia
Ships Oct. 23rd
Hard Cover Gibrone. $55.05
Special Barnes & Noble edition available through all Barnes & Noble
online outlets
🫶 Community Bowl $15
Reduced-price PDF for students, elders, or anyone in need of the joy of soup available via direct download
Ships Oct. 23rd
Independent publishing pre-order tiers with extras (Limited Time Only):
Big Spoon Supporter $100
+Supporter tier: includes signed paperback copy + bonus gift
Ships Oct. 23rd
order now through this paylink
Ancestral Soup Circle $250
Limited edition: signed hardcover + extras (zine, launch invite, handwritten thank you)
Ships Oct 23rd.
order now through this paylink
Order now and receive:
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🖊️ Signed first edition (with order of hard cover)
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📖 Sicilian Soup Spell recipe mini-zine (PDF download)
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🫕 Invited to cozy Soup Circle virtual launch party or if you are in LA (in person)
These gifts are only available during the pre-sale period. Pre-orders directly support this indie book’s creation, printing, and magical extras.
👩🍳 About the Author
Melanie Lutz is a storyteller, soup maker, and joyful kitchen witch. Raised on tomato-stained aprons, wooden spoons and whispered family myths, she's spent years creating spaces that nourish body, mind, and community. Everything is Soup is her first cookbook-memoir—a simmering invitation to live deliciously and love deeply.
❓ FAQ
The cookbook ships October 23rd! After launch date, book will be available everywhere for your fall/winter joy, gifting and
soup expanding updates will be hitting the streets along the way.
Is international shipping available?
Yes. for digital version. Not yet for print! We encourage you to explore ordering the e-book, a pdf download directly from our website. For international hardcover and paperback orders please use online booksellers when the book drops on October 23rd. We'll recommend a few of our favorite independent booksellers after the pre-order period. We look forward to having you join us in the soup wisdom traditions!!!
This is a book to celebrate soup in all its forms, to share love, to get together around the table and talk about things that matter, to know your neighbors, to share and gather and grow together. Stories are how we heal. Let's, together, create a world of love and connection. Dis da soup one.
What formats are available?
Paperback, hardcover (limited edition), and eBook. Kindle for Amazon, and author annotated pdf version. There will be an audible available to supplement the printed materials.
If you would like a digital version of the book and funds are low Use code: soup love for the pdf version of the book. We are grateful to share our soup love.
What if I want to order multiple copies?
Amazing! You’ll receive karma points in heaven for sharing the soup love. Send an email, make your request and please bear with us as we figure out the order and how best to ship.
📬 Want a Taste?
Join the Souper.life IG for behind-the-scenes looks, sneak-peek recipes, and kitchen confessions from the road to publication.
If you are interested in hosting a soup night gather, please reach out!
Sign Me Up for Everything is Soup wisdom and recipe letter
AFTER PRE-SALE PERIOD BOOKS AVAILABLE THROUGH ALL YOUR FAVORITE ONLINE SELLERS
🫕 Nourish Your Shelf $45.54
Regular paperback, with beautiful botanical illustrations and so much soup love available through amazon
Bearer of Wisdom
Regular Hardcover in all its Beauty and Love
Available everywhere books are sold
The magic and miracles of making soup is a huge part of growing up Italian during icy northeastern winters. We'd tromp through the bitter cold and snow piles over six feet, with ice formations only polar bears would love and Mom would often have hot, nourishing, soup to warm our hearts when we returned home. So many memories of cooking with my Nonna, granny and all the grandmothers, aunties, uncles and friends in the kitchen, where we gathered every Sunday without fail. Grateful for the opportunity to share recipes and wisdom from our family to yours.
There is no greater pleasure than sharing what you love with folks. A delicious bowl of soup connects us across time and space through the celestial realms.
Over the years, the recipes and wisdom engrained in my childhood grew and flourished. After joining in our local apothecary supporting our urban ecosystem restoration garden under the Hollywood Sign the energetics of the plants used to make soup took flight. What might have been lost, is offered here in it's simplest form.
EVERYTHING IS SOUP