In 1897 A Chemist With The Campbell Soup Company, Invented Condensed Soup

Having been nicknamed “the soup that won the war,” Pepper Pot has its very own day. National Pepper Pot Day is observed annually on December 29th.

• 6000 BC – There is evidence that shows soups were being served around 6000 BC.
• 1777 – During the brutal winter of 1777 and 1778, the Continental Army was camped at Valley Forge on December 29th. George Washington asked the army’s chef to prepare a meal that would boost morale and warm the troops. So the chef rounded up some ingredients and called it Pepper Pot Soup. The troops received the meal well and nicknamed it “the soup that won the war.”
• 19th Century – In the early 19th century, artist John Lewis Krimmel depicted the pepper pot street vendor in Philadelphia with his painting, Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market.
• 19th Century – “Pocket soup” was carried by colonial travelers, as it could easily be reconstituted with a little hot water. Canned and dehydrated soups were available in the 19th century. These supplied the military, covered wagon trains, cowboy chuck wagons, and the home pantry.
• 1811 – Krimmel’s work was first exhibited in 1811 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The painting shows a barefoot black woman serving soup from a pot to white customers.
• 1897 – Dr. John T. Dorrance, who was a chemist with the Campbell Soup Company, invented condensed soup.
• 1899 – A can of condensed Pepper Pot soup was available from the Campbell Soup Company for around 100 years until it was discontinued in 2010.
• 1962 – Andy Warhol used Campbell’s canned version in a famous 1962 painting, sold 12 years ago for almost $12m.
• 1968 – The Philadelphia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America even began using the pepper pot as the symbol for its annual awards in 1968.
• Pepper Pot shares the same name as soups in the Caribbean
• A canned seafood Pepper Pot soup was formerly sold by Bookbinder Specialties, a gourmet soup manufacturer in the Philadelphia area.
• Food historians say the history of soup is probably as old as the history of cooking.
• Soup (and stews, pottages, porridge, gruel, etc.) evolved according to local ingredients and tastes.
  • New England chowder, Spanish gazpacho, Russian borscht, Italian minestrone, French onion, Chinese won ton, and Campbell’s tomato…are all variations on the same theme.
• Advancements in science enabled soups to take many forms…portable, canned, dehydrated, and microwave-ready.
• Until the arrival of the term ‘soup,’ such food had been termed broth or pottage. It was customarily served with the meat or vegetable dishes with which it had been made, and (as the derivation of soup suggests) was poured over sops of bread or toast (the ancestors of modern croutons).
• Etiquette experts tell us we “eat,” rather than “drink” soup because it is considered part of the meal. Additionally, in most cultures, soup is consumed with a spoon rather than sipped from the container.
• Soup is the starter/accompaniment; stew is the main course.
• The origin of the word soup comes from the combination of two Sanskrit words and po, which means good nutrition.
• Americans eat more than ten billion bowls of soup every year and their favorite is chicken noodle soup.
• In the U.K. they love tomato soup.
•  Guyana claims pepper pot soup as its national dish. The primary ingredient in Guyanese pepper pot soup is cassareep, a thick sauce made from the cassava root.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

Wikipedia

The Guardian

Food Timeline

National Days Today

National Today