Its a Liquid Food (But I Call it Soup)

Last week for dinner I decided to make lentil soup that I had in the cupboard. I made rice as well, since the only way he'll eat soup if if he eats it over rice. I added frozen peas to the mix as well, because we're both a big fan of peas and we had some in the freezer. We've done something similar before adding chicken to the mix, but we didn't have any in the fridge that night.
I took my bowl of soup, mixed in some rice, and graded parmesan cheese on top. (I did take a picture with the cheese, but you can't quite see the yummy soup goodness in that picture.)

The boy had a bowl too, except there were a few differences. If you look at my bowl you'd call that soup with rice. But if you looked at the boy's bowl, you'd call it rice with soup. (And no, he ate his too quickly before I was able to snap a picture.) Not only did he start out with a disproportion size of rice compared to what I added, when he added the soup the the bowl he used a slotted spoon, on purpose of course. This was his was of still getting all the lentils, peas, and other vegetables of the soup without having much if any of the liquid.

I guess its somewhat of a paradox for him. He feels that if its a liquid you should be drinking it, but if its actual food you should be chewing it. Which means the only way the would agree to eating soup is if he can eat it with a fork. For the same reasoning he's not a big fan of smoothies because its a liquid yet its not really just a drink. Maybe he's the only one out there how has this solid/liquid thought process. Or it could be more common than I would have thought. So tell me, do you find issue with eating something even if its a liquid (or drinking something that's considered to be food)?

~Shoshanah