Is it appropriate to use "drink" as verb for canned soup?

Question

I know that soup is considered a dish, not a beverage, so a phrase like "drink soup" sounds odd accordingly, and it should be rephrased like "eat soup", right?

Also, it is obvious that the motion like this can be described as "drink". I believe no one will disagree with this.

My question is how you would describe the motion like the one in the above picture if the content of the bottle were soup. I have this question because in my country, canned soup like vegetable soup and corn potage soup are not rare. They are sold at many supermarkets here and there, and even on vending machines sometimes.

The picture above is just an example of canned vegetable soup.

At this post of the ELL StackExcahnge, Hellion answers:

• using a utensil (fork, spoon, chopsticks, etc.): then you eat it.
• pouring it from a container into your mouth: then you drink it.
• sucking it up through a straw: then you drink it.

If his definitions above are the general understanding for many native speakers, then I thought a phrase like "drink canned corn potage soup" must be appropriate.

What do you think?

Answer 1

It depends

If cold soup is drunk directly from the can, then the verb "drink", as shown, is probably the best choice.

If, instead, the contents of the can are emptied into a pan, heated, then poured into a bowl, presumably a person would eat the soup with a spoon rather than drink it straight from the bowl. Although it's not rare to see children (and some adults) lick their plates clean, just as a cat does, I would still say they had eaten all their soup up.

But when the hot liquid soup is poured into a cup, a spoon is unnecessary, unless it's for stirring, so that soup can be drunk.

"Drink corn soup from a can” sounds better to my ears than the one suggested by the OP “drink canned corn potage soup”