Football season is upon us, and whether youre cheering for the home team, or are on the visitors side, sustenance is essential. More than 35 million Americans think so, anyway. Thats the number of football fans who fire up their grills in stadium parking lots from coast to coast according to the American Tailgaters Association and mix their gridiron enthusiasm with a hankering for friendly, casual cuisine.

Santa has always had a monopoly on the good cookies. But it took Julia Usher a while to ponder the bigger issue: Why should the winter holidays get all the gingerbread? And why should something as deliciously fun as a cookie exchange be relegated to December?

Fall is a fickle season: summer weather one day, icy breezes the next — too toasty for lentils, too cool for gazpacho. So we’re celebrating the season with some sublime fall soups, potages that showcase autumn’s harvest and work equally well no matter what the temperature.

There's more to the college experience than fascinating lectures, frat parties and pricey textbooks. There's all that ramen, for one thing.