National Pepper Pot Soup Day (also known as Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup) commemorates a dish that earned the nickname “the soup that won the war.” The observance takes place annually on December 29th. In honor of the holiday, here’s a little history to go with your soup.
It was during the revolutionary war around 1777 that the Continental army experienced a winter that was, by all accounts, just brutal. The Continental army was on the verge of freezing and severely low on food because the farmers sold all their supplies to the British army for money rather than working with the revolutionary army’s low currency.
It was at this time that George Washington asked the general chef of the army to prepare food for the army that could warm them and also boost their morale. Christopher Ludwick who was the general baker of the army started looking for whatever he could get, and he found scraps of tripe, meat, and some peppercorns amongst some other seasoning; he mixed all these and created a thick, hot and spicy soup on December 29th, 1777, that could, literally, “feed an army.” After the soldiers ate the soup, which both warmed and nourished their physical bodies and souls, they called it “the soup that won the war.”
Pepper Pot Fun Facts:
- During the early 19th century in Philadelphia, John Lewis Krimmel, an Artist by profession, went on to paint a pepper pot street vendor. His work was first exhibited in 1811 at the Academy of the Fine Arts in Pennsylvania. The painting portrays soup being served from a pot by a black barefoot woman to white customers.
- The Pepper Pot Award is an annual award ceremony that is held by the PRSA to recognize the top PR professionals in Philadelphia. It was in 1968 that Bill Parker suggested the name The Pepper Pot Award to conjure up “excitement, liveliness, and good humor.”
- There are many famous people who were born on pepper pot day: Ross Lynch, Jude Law, Jon Voight, Danny McBride, Mary Tyler Moore, Mekhi Phifer, Ted Danson, Eric Berry, Michael Cudlitz, Sean Payton, and Jane Levy, to name a few.
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