A potage is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form into a thick mush.
Its possible ancestors include savory puddings such as crustades, fygeye or figge (a potage of mashed figs thickened with bread), creme boiled (a kind of stirred custard), and sippets.
The weak would sell their souls for a mess of potage, discovering that devaluation can be an "uncontrollable process" with little lasting gain for exports.
