Dec. 29 is National Pepper Pot Day.
Pepper Pot or Pepper Pot Soup came to colonial America from Africa, the West Indies, and the Caribbean. It was brought by slaves and was particularly associated with blacks in Philadelphia. These cooks made it out of a variety of ingredients. It usually included various spices like pepper corn, bits of meat, tripe (the edible lining of the stomachs of animals like cows and sheep), vegetables, and broth. Sometimes ox-feet were added. It was a cheap meal, but very robust. It was lauded as a hangover cure. Black women sold it on the streets of Philadelphia. They were known as Pepper Pot Women. According to legend, it became an important meal for the Continental Army at Valley Forge in 1777. Christopher Lundnick, the baker general of the army, was tasked with coming up with a meal that could be made with the ingredients available to an army that had trouble buying from local farmers because the British paid better. It kept the soldiers going during the harsh winter. It put them in a fighting spirit. (Possibly because death could not be worse than having to eat it.) Just kidding. I’m sure it was great. It was called “the soup that won the war.” The soup remained popular after the war. The Campbell Soup Company sold it from 1899-2010. One of Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell Soup paintings was of Pepper Pot. The painting was done in 1962 and sold for $12 million in 2006. It was probably bought by someone who would not have been caught dead eating it.
If you want to prepare it, go to this website: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13136/authentic-pepper-pot-soup/
https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-pepper-pot-day-december-29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_pot_soup
0 Comments