Almost everyone loves piping hot soup — which got us to thinking about the whole expression…
Photograph by Szeto Clan
Q: Why do we describe warm food as “piping hot”?
A: Today, piping hot usually means comfortably warm food straight from your own oven to the table, but it took a few centuries to evolve into that meaning. There was a time when everyone bought freshly baked bread every day from a neighbourhood or village baker. When the bread was ready, the baker would signal from his front door by blowing on a pipe or horn, which caused people to hurry to get bread before it ran out and gave us the expression “piping hot.”
