Rumford's Soup

Rumford's Soup (Rumfordsche Suppe, also called economy soup) was an early effort in scientific nutrition. It was invented by Count Rumford circa 1800 and consumed in Munich and greater Bavaria, where he was employed as an advisor to the Duke. 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. 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.

Rumford's soup was a common base for inexpensive military rations in Central Europe for much of the nineteenth and twentieth century.