Lentil soup comes to the rescue in quake-ravaged Turkey

A woman tends to lentil soup at a municipal soup kitchen in Gaziantep, Turkey. On the first day after the quake, the kitchen's director says they distributed soup to more than 200,000 people. (Claire Harbage/NPR)

In the midst of the humanitarian crisis that's followed the Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, one relief supply has been ubiquitous: lentil soup.

"It's cold here," says 28-year-old Aylin Kilinçli at a tent encampment in the hard-hit city of Nurdagi. "When we eat the soup, it warms us," she says.