With the nights drawing in and getting colder, and my grandma making more of her famous ham shank soup, Isle of Man Today is not afraid to tackle the hard-hitting questions everyone wants to know.

With that in mind, I took to the streets of Douglas to ask people what their favourite flavour of soup was.

Anna Maria D’angeli and Atonino Ando, from Onchan, exclusively told us the ingredients of their homemade traditional Italian family soup.

Mrs D’angeli said: ‘We prepare it in the pan with olive oil, garlic, cabbage, lentils, onion, beans and fry.

‘A bit of tomato, only a spoonful, just to obtain the colour.

‘Mix the vegetables all in then hot water, salt of course, and it takes 25 minutes cooking.

‘At the end we add a bit of cheese on top. It’s really good.

‘We have it when it’s cold, so all the time over here!’

Mr Ando said: ‘In the Isle of Man when I go to eat something I don’t have any choice.

‘If I can order some soup there’s only one kind and it’s always tomato.’

‘We have the best soup at home and we recommend everybody to eat the soup cold during the good seasons like summer and heat it up warm in the winter.’

Chris Danaher, from Douglas, said: ‘My favourite soup is the Thai chicken curry one from Marks and Spencers, it’s £2.50 and fills you up.

‘I’d say I have a lot of soup at this time of year because they start getting the good ones back out again.

‘It’s a good winter warmer up until February I’d say.

‘I’ve made my own before but not in a while, it’s not as good as the shop with all the additives.’

When asked what else he does to keep warm in winter he said: ‘I put the heating on, I make sacrifices where I can to put it on for an extended period of time, like budget soups!’

Kaelyn de Vos, Ruthie Bateman and Erin Oliphant (Ramsey, Douglas and Port St Mary) all enjoy soup at this time of year.

Kaelyn said: ‘I like soup but I don’t make homemade soup, I ask my mother to make me some.

‘Minestrone soup is my favourite, it’s got tomatoes and vegetables and pasta in.

‘This is my first winter not in South Africa so I’ve always got 10 layers of clothes on, including beanies, scarves and gloves!’

Ruthie said: ‘Spicy butternut soup is my favourite, I have it mostly in winter as it’s like comfort food for a night in.

‘I don’t make it all that often but if someone has I’ll eat it.’

Erin added: ‘I like butternut soup but with a bit of a twist, so I sometimes have chilli butternut soup or mushroom butternut soup.

‘There’s so many variations, and not just butternut.

‘I’ve made it before but it’s a bit messy and a lot of blending.’

Tracey-Jayne Dreyer and daughter Donna, from Douglas, said their favourite soup is butternut or potato and leek.

Tracey-Jayne said: ‘We don’t have it more often because the men in our house refuse to eat soup!

‘We would probably have it every second night if we could, but at the moment every two weeks or so we manage to get a soup in them.

‘In the butternut soup we add cream, onions, leeks, sweet potatoes and orange.’

Donna added: ‘Butternut soup and a glass of mulled wine please!’