
Most thursdays while growing up in Sweden, we were served pea soup. It was a yellow split pea soup with an occasional seed coating as the peas used were whole and the seed coats were removed as the soup cooked. The soup thickens even more from the brown mustard stirred into it and it also gives it a delicious flavor that goes well with the salt pork that is often served sliced to go along with the soup.
In addition to the pea soup, thin pancakes or crepes were served usually with lingon berries. This tradition originated somewhere in the 1500-1600 hundreds as Catholicism was spreading. Pea soup with salt pork was served on thursday as a hearty meal before the friday fast. Often domestic help had a half day off on thursday and the soup could be prepared to simply be reheated. The crepes or pancakes were served with Punch which is a sweet alcoholic drink like a liqueur, drizzled over them – this we did not get served in school.

The tradition still lives on somewhat and pea soup is still often served in schools, cafeterias or homes on thursdays.
While pea soup may not be fine cuisine that people would flock to high end restaurants for, it is a taste and memory of tradition and a very good soup.
Pea soup has a few real bonuses: it is cheap to make and quite easy, health wise it contains a lot of good plant protein and is lean while being filling. You can make this soup vegetarian pretty easily, even vegan.
Give it a try as a change from regular green split pea soup and treat yourself to some crepes for dessert.