It’s that season: the sniffling, fevered, afraid to touch the subway pole, other people’s cooties time of year. Common medical wisdom from Bubbe to your GP says that chicken soup, a quintessentially Jewish tonic, is the only known cure for the common cold.

The geniuses at Ask Yahoo name chicken soup’s many healing properties, among them the inhibition of inflamed nasal passage cells, and the promotion of mucous flow to soothe sore throats and coughs, all while trapping disease-causing bacteria. Yum!

Chicken soup is also said to contain an amino acid similar to those in drugs used to treat respiratory infections.

Is also good for the soul, we hear.