I got an “interesting” piece of spam mail awhile ago with the subject heading Soup To Nuts…Five minutes to become MAN!!ACEQDFA. Apparently it was some sort of genital enhancement advertisement (“World’s #1 Enlargement Technique!! No pumps, No pills, No gadgets, or other rip-offs!” etc. etc.), but what’s got me stumped is that “soup to nuts” line – I have never heard that expression before. Am I just out of the loop?
Formal dinners with multiple courses used to begin with soup, proceed to fish, then the entree, so on and so forth, then after dessert and cheese, nuts or other little munchy things were served with the after-dinner-drinks.
So it means the whole deal, complete, the whole shebang.
From http://www.greenapple.com/~words1/back-m2.html#souptonuts
"As a metaphor for “from beginning to end” or “the whole range of things,” “soup to nuts” refers, as you say, to the full course of an elaborate meal, beginning with soup, through the various courses, and ending, at least in this case, with nuts. I’m not sure when the classic seven-course dinner was invented, although I know for a fact that I wasn’t invited. Although “soup to nuts” dates back only to the middle of the 20th century, similar sayings have been in use since the 16th century. The only difference in the various incarnations of this metaphor seems to be in what was considered to constitute a full meal in each historical period. In the 17th century, for instance, the whole shebang would be summed up as “from eggs to apples.” And, of course, unless Americans wean themselves from fast food pretty quickly, future generations will probably be hearing a new version of the phrase – “From Whoppers to Haagen-Dazs.” "
Ah, thanks, mystery explained. I was worried that spammers were becoming more insidious (by inventing new phrases in order to make me more interested in genital enlargement).
There has also been a Straight Dope Staff Report on What’s the origin of the expression, “from soup to nuts”?