Soupy Sales

The Food Depot brings back the Souper Bowl for its 27th iteration

The last time Santa Fe’s Food Depot hosted its usually annual Souper Bowl event, the world was roughly one month away from the kickoff of COVID-19 madness. This year, after two sad years without any major soup gatherings, the event will return with more than a dozen chefs crafting a wide gamut of soupy creations and, thanks to the community, a staggering impact for the organization through ticket sales and potential donations.

“We’re super excited, though we didn’t change a lot this year—we just wanted to come back and make it happen,” says Food Depot deputy director Jill Dixon. “We have 19 chefs, which is pretty good considering the stress that’s been put on the restaurant industry, plus the cost of food; it’s been a real commitment to sign on to a benefit event.”

This year’s lineup is a banger, too, with soups created by teams from Jambo Café, Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen, El Nido, Escondido (being chef Fernando Ruiz’s soon-to-open taco joint), Poki Tako, Tibet Kitchen and many more. Dixon can’t pick a favorite to win she says, but does note she’s heard some enticing rumors.

“What I’m most excited about is there are cuisines from around the world, a real diverse range,” she explains. “But I also heard there’s going to be a biscochito soup, which I have to say I’m dying for already.”

Ditto, but the real draw is helping community. While Dixon doesn’t have specific dollar numbers for an average Souper Bowl intake, she says that, at $35, every ticket sold translates to something like 120 meals for those in need.

“Roughly speaking, every dollar can provide four meals,” she tells SFR, “so it’s pretty awesome.”

Awesome indeed. In 2022, for example, The Food Depot distributed about 10 million pounds of food, or 8.8 million meals, according to Dixon, and a hiatus on food donations sort of trained the community to think about donating money rather than food itself, thus maximizing the possibilities.

“Don’t go to Smith’s and spend $20,” Dixon says, noting that The Food Depot has partnerships and distribution channels that stretch every donation further. As for the Souper Bowl—the 27th, for those keeping track—VIP tickets are already sold out, and though it’s possible there might be some general admission slots left at the door come Saturday, folks who also want biscochito soup should get it together ASAP. (Alex De Vore)

Souper Bowl XXVII: Noon-2:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 28. $35 ($10 for kids). Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 W Marcy St., thefooddepot.org

It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got The Thing

Within the pantheon of horror classics lies any number of real creeper movies, yet there is perhaps none more universally adored than John Carpenter’s celebrated 1982 masterpiece The Thing. Yeah—masterpiece. No spoilers (though how could anyone have missed seeing this one?), but the long and short of it is that a research team doing research stuff in Antarctica runs afoul of, well, some alien thing, which can take on the form of literally anyone/any animal it kills. No one knows whom to trust thanks to that shape-shifty bastard, but Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley and all the rest sure try to work it out. Terror ensues and leads to one of the most iconic endings in cinema history. If you’ve never seen it, fix that immediately. (ADV)

The Thing: 9 pm Thursday, Jan. 26. $13-$26. Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 466-5528

Cinema Siete

Speaking of cool movies, you might want to get hip to Santa Fe-based/Mexico-born filmmaker Armando Hernandez, a creator who has been making notable shorts over the last two years while acting in productions at Midtown bastion, Teatro Paraguas. Hernandez has a few new ones under his belt, too, including Asesino, a reportedly action-packed number inspired by the excellent Assassin’s Creed series of video games. There are six more where that comes from, plus viewers get the pride of learning about an up-and-comer before the rest of the masses. The world needs more young filmmakers, and those filmmakers need bigger audiences. Do it. Viewer discretion is advised for this one, which is like code for, “it’s cool.” (ADV)

Seven Short Films by Armando Hernandez: 7:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 28. Suggested donation. Teatro Paraguas, 3205 Calle Marie, (505) 424-1601

Canvas Clapbacks

New Mexico School for the Arts is no stranger to cross-disciplinary pollination. Those of us who were around for its stint at the old Cathedral School have fond memories of the winter the visual arts students covered all the street-facing windows in student-composed poems about snow (and that was before the creative writing program was even officialized). But the upcoming exhibit Convergences reunites the school’s visual and literary talent in perhaps their most formalized collaboration yet, giving both mediums equal primacy through a combined gallery show and call-and-response catalog of poems and fine art pieces. And while those catalogs will be available post-opening, we have a feeling it’s worth it to see this one with the artists present. (Siena Sofia Bergt)

NMSA Presents: Convergences (opening): 5-7 pm, Friday, Jan. 27. Free. New Mexico School for the Arts, 500 Montezuma Ave., Ste. 200, (505) 310-4194