Image adapted from “Perpetual stew laughing” taken by Annie Rauwerda is CC BY-SA 4.0.
Well, it is a very real thing, and it is called perpetual stew! The idea is to keep a pot of stew simmering over a certain temperature at all times to prevent harmful microorganisms from growing. In theory, it is safe, and there are even restaurants around the world serving it to customers. So, would you try perpetual stew?
Perpetual Stew: What is it?
Perpetual stew can be known as forever soup or hunter’s stew. Essentially, it is a pot of stew that is constantly kept cooking over heat. Over time, people can take from the stew, eat it, and replenish it with water and more ingredients (Murashima, 2025). In this case, “time” could range anywhere from a number of days to even years.
In modern days, the concept has gained a good deal of traction all over the internet after some influencers have tried their hand at making the stew themselves. One blog writes about how Rauwerda, an influencer online, created her own perpetual stew over the course of 2 months, inviting friends, family, and even strangers to add to the stew (Martinko, 2024). The idea certainly draws a lot of attention, but how safe is this practice in reality?
Is it Safe to Eat?
Naturally, there is a cause for concern when consuming something that has been left “out” for such a long period of time. Most people would be concerned about the food spoiling if it was left out for a few days, not to mention a couple years.
Food spoilage is generally caused by a large number of different microorganisms like protists, fungi, and bacteria (Rawat, 2015). Although they are not visible to the human eye, microorganisms are generally found everywhere. Under the right conditions, these kinds of organisms can reproduce rather rapidly and cause harm to the human body. For instance, one research article describes how spore-forming bacteria can grow in heat-treated foods and survive at temperatures up to 55°C (Rawat, 2015). This means that despite being heated, foods like stews can still harbor harmful bacteria. Hypothetically, though, the stew may be safe to eat if it is constantly kept at around 60°C, a temperature above the threshold that those bacteria can survive (Murashima, 2025). If the stew ever dips below that temperature, though, it may be best to discard that pot and start over. After all, bacteria can appear and multiply within just a few hours.
Not as Strange as it Sounds
Perpetual stew isn’t something that you can just make at home either! In some parts of the world, the stew is actually sold in restaurants. One family-owned establishment in Bangkok, Thailand called Wattana Panich serves a beef noodle broth that has been cooking for over 45 years (Sullivan, 2019). The family keeps the broth cooking all day, selling it to customers from around the world. However, the practice is not as simple as keeping the pot boiling at all hours of the day. Nattapong Kaweeantawong, the owner of the restaurant, describes how the family only takes a small part of the original soup every night and keeps it over a constant simmer. The rest of the soup is then removed from the pot so that it can be cleaned, and the small bit of soup that was put aside is then used to make a new soup the next day (Sullivan, 2019). Thus, the restaurant has not kept the entire pot of soup for 45 years, but rather a small part of the old soup is kept as the “starter” for the new soup each day.
Although from a microbiological perspective it may not be the exact same, the concept of keeping a portion of old foods as a starter to make new ones isn’t foreign at all. Sourdough bread is made with a starter that includes a multitude of microorganisms that cause fermentation, including Lactobacillus (Corsetti & Settanni, 2007). Kombucha is fermented tea, which includes the use of bacteria and yeast. Vietnamese yogurt is made with a starter as well, where the cook will always keep a portion of the previous batch of yogurt to make a new one.
Therefore, perpetual stew may not be as scary as it sounds! Perhaps it is simply a cultural thing or a matter of opening your mind, but it isn’t just a pot of boiling rotten food. It may not be the best idea to try making the stew at home, since there are many ways for the stew to go wrong without the proper knowledge. However, it could be a dish worth trying when travelling abroad!
Would you ever consider trying a stew that’s been brewing for years?
References:
Corsetti, A. and Settanni, L. (2007), Lactobacilli in sourdough fermentation, Food Research International, Volume 40, Issue 5, Pages 539-558, ISSN 0963-9969, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2006.11.001.
Martinko, K (2024). Meet Perpetual Stew: The Medieval Soup That Became a Social Media Sensation. AllRecipes. https://www.allrecipes.com/what-is-perpetual-stew
Murashima, C. (2025). Want to try perpetual stew? Some tips for avoiding foodborne illness. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/11/nx-s1-5422245/perpetual-stew-safety-tips
Rawat, S. (2015). Food Spoilage: Microorganisms and their prevention. Asian journal of plant science and Research, 5(4), 47-56.
Sullivan, M. (2019). Soup’s On! And On! Thai Beef Noodle Brew Has Been Simmering For 45 Years. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/11/03/772030934/soups-on-and-on-thai-beef-noodle-brew-has-been-simmering-for-45-years