HELSINKI, Finland — To all my kin and friends who claim I don’t listen, let “Mr. Eats” bury your lies in truth. Forever, I hope.

 

On my trip here, Doug Nohl, a colleague from my Ohio University days, insisted I try salmon soup at Market Square. Doug said to leave Helsinki without trying it borders on a sin, punishable with a hot time in Hell. I like salmon anyway.

 

In a soup?

 

OK, I decided to try salmon soup.

 

I walked 25 miles — it seemed like 25 — to find the market area. Google Map twisted me like a pretzel, but I found the outdoor market, a place abuzz with people and vendors. I searched awhile for one who had salmon soup on the menu. I found none.

 

Hungry, I settled for salmon paella, which tasted too good to not order another bowl to go. I resisted. After eating, I strolled inside the brick marketplace adjunct to outdoor tents. I was looking for nothing in particular.

 

Guess what I bumped into?

 

Vendors with salmon soup. 

 

Now, I wasn’t hungry, yet I had to sample salmon soup or take that hot time in Hell as my punishment. I didn’t want that, of course.

 

Normally, the soup came in what looked like a gallon-sized bowl, which was far too much food after a paella dish. So, I asked the vendor if I could order a small portion.

 

“Yes,” she told me.

 

So, I did.

 

Kin and friends already know I’m a foodie. I’ve sampled dishes around the globe, from a cheese risotto in Paris that was richer than Elon Musk, and sushi so tasty in Tokyo that I swore I’d never eat sushi again. (I suppose I should go to Hell for that boldfaced lie, though.)

 

In Frankfurt, Germany, I had barbecue at a place named Chicago Williams BBQ, and its ribs rivaled any I’d eaten in The States, which include at Gates or Arthur Bryant’s or Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que in Kansas City. Barbecue doesn’t get better than these spots, except maybe at Chicago Williams.

 

In Cairo, Egypt, I had a meal at a street market that, absent meat, might be the tastiest vegetarian dish I’d ever put in my month. When I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a former student took me to a spot deep in the heart of this cosmopolitan city and ordered a dish that had the most flavorful broth ever.

 

You can’t travel the world, however, without an openness to various sweet and savory flavors and a palate that can discern the difference between great and pedestrian. I’ve had my share of the latter more than I’ve had of the former.

 

I couldn’t know without tasting which category salmon soup would fall in. I ordered the smaller size, about 10 ounces. Looking back, I should have ordered the gallon. For salmon soup is as good as a bowl of soup can get (sorry, French onion!); it was creamy, rich and loaded with a delicate, slightly sweet flavor.

 

Why did no restaurant in Seattle, the salmon capital of the USA, not have salmon soup as the highlight of its menu? Shameful … 

 

After a bowl of it, I think I should avoid soup altogether. For they’ll all fall short of what Mr. Eats enjoys in meals he orders: great taste and filling.