The primordial soup is a generic term that describes the aqueous solution of organic compounds that accumulated in primitive water bodies of the early Earth as a result of endogenous abiotic syntheses and the extraterrestrial delivery by cometary and meteoritic collisions, and from which some have assumed that the first living systems evolved.

This book searching through time for the history and recipes of primordial soup, cruel gruel, and serving up historical appetizers from cave cuisine to today's tasty temples of temptation. It hits the ground punning with conjectures of cave cooks' sloppy experiments with low-tech cooking, continuing to follow the evolution of crude food to kings' cuisine.