There’s No Such Thing as Campbell’s Alphabet Soup

My mind is fried.

If I was on a game show and was asked, "have you ever had Campbell's Alphabet Soup?" then I would lose a million dollars right there. I know a lot you are with me right now. You're thinking, 'I remember my mom making it for me when I was little' or 'I made it for my kids.' You might even claim to have some in your pantry. You, me and your kids are all wrong.

So I made a trip over to Market Street with an express order from my wife to pick her up some soups. On the list was Campbell's Alphabet Soup. After all, when you're sick or in a mood, what could be better than a hot cup of nostalgia? I scoured the shelf over and over, distracted by the fact that they make cream of everything nowadays, and I could not find Alphabet Soup. There's even a small section of those giant soup racks just for kids, and still no Alphabet Soup.

Now, before we get to it, think in your mind about the last time you saw a can of Campbell's Alphabet Soup. You can see it clearly in your mind, right? Your brain is lying to you. Campbell's Alphabet Soup is actually Campbell's Vegetable Soup or Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable. It was never called "Campbell's Alphabet Soup," and your whole life is a lie.

We're all suffering from The Mandela Effect, which is when large groups of people all misremember the same thing.

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For a time, some of the cans had a bubble on them below the name that said 'The Alphabet Soup,' but you still were grabbing a can of Vegetable or Vegetarian Vegetable. At some point, Campbell's even dropped that little descriptive yellow bubble, making the soup even harder to find for completely oblivious people like me. Things get even more complicated because for a while, Campbell's did make something called "Chicken Alphabet Soup," but it doesn't appear to be available anymore. There was also "Tomato A to Zs," but good luck getting kids to eat that.

I know you want to call me a liar right now, but go over to Campbell's site. And here's a link to a Google search for Campbell's Alphabet Soup.

One last tip: if you want the soup with the alphabet in it, make sure you're getting the ones called 'Vegetable' or 'Vegetarian Vegetable.' If you get 'Old Fashioned Vegetable,' 'Vegetable Beef' or any of the other variations, you won't get the letters to spell 'CAT' in your food.