Rumford's Soup (''Rumfordsche Suppe'', also called economy soup)
was an early effort in scientific
nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...
. It was invented by
Benjamin Thompson
Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, FRS (german: Reichsgraf von Rumford; March 26, 1753August 21, 1814) was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th-century revolut ...
,
Reichsgraf von Rumford, circa 1800 and consumed in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
and greater
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
,
where he was employed as an advisor to
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. It was used as a ration for the poor,
for Bavarian workhouses
and military workhouses,
and prisoners. Count Rumford has been credited in many instances for "establishing the first real
soup kitchen."
As a reformatory measure, the Bavarian government intended to institute workhouses for those on
welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
. Rumford's charge was to provide the cheapest possible ration that was still a high-calorie, nutritious food. The soup came to be well known among philanthropic-minded people throughout Germany at the time, and Rumford set up his soup kitchens in many German cities.
[ ISSN 0043-7425]
Rumford's soup was a common base for inexpensive military rations in Central Europe for much of the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Ingredients
Rumford's soup contained equal parts of
pearl barley
Pearl barley, or pearled barley, is barley that has been processed to remove its fibrous outer hull and polished to remove some or all of the bran layer.
It is the most common form of barley for human consumption because it cooks faster and i ...
or barley meal and dried peas,
vegetables,
four parts potato, salt according to need, and sour beer,
slowly boiled until thick. The use of potatoes came into use in later versions of the soup.
It was typically eaten with bread. It has been stated that Rumford's recipe called for the bread to be served uncooked, and "added just before serving the soup."
One account describes the soup as being poured atop the bread just prior to serving.
Rumford noted that the barley served to significantly thicken the soup and provide a richness to it, and he considered the cereal grain as "the rice of Great Britain."
Some versions were composed of cereals, minor amounts of meat and other ingredients.
Not noted as particularly tasty, it is palatable with long, slow cooking.
Nutrition
Rumford's Soup was designed to provide a high degree of nutrition at minimal expense.
It has been estimated that the soup provided one-third of a person's minimal (daily) nutritional requirements.
Rumford's soup is naturally low-fat, with high protein content from the dried peas, and both complex carbohydrates from the potato and barley and simple carbohydrates from the beer. Given the knowledge of the day, it was close to an optimum solution to the problem of creating cheap, nutritious food. Unfortunately, the need for
vitamins
A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrien ...
and
trace elements
__NOTOC__
A trace element, also called minor element, is a chemical element whose concentration (or other measure of amount) is very low (a "trace amount"). They are classified into two groups: essential and non-essential. Essential trace elements ...
was unknown, but Rumford's soup was sometimes supplemented with corn or
herring which supplied adequate
vitamin C
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...
and
vitamin D
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, and many other biological effects. In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (c ...
.
In popular culture
The soup is occasionally served today to illustrate the past, such as at the "Oide Wiesn" historical section of the
Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...
celebrations in Munich, meant to recreate Oktoberfest in the "olden days".
See also
*
List of soups
This is a list of notable soups. Soups have been made since Ancient history, ancient times.
Some soups are served with large chunks of meat or vegetables left in the liquid, while others are served as a broth. A broth is a flavored liquid usua ...
*
List of German soups
*
Peasant food
Peasant foods are dishes eaten by peasants, made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients.
In many historical periods, peasant foods have been stigmatized.
They may use ingredients, such as offal and less-tender cuts of meat, which are not ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* Molnár T. B. & Bittera Dóra: A gróf sparheltja (The count's cooking range). Magyar Nemzet, 23 April 2005.
* {{cite web , title=On the benefits of thermodynamics , website=MTA Wigner Fizikai Kutatóközpont Részecske- és Magfizikai Intézet, url=http://www.rmki.kfki.hu/~lukacs/RUMFORD.htm, access-date=January 24, 2015
German soups
Nutrition