Society has acknowledged its obligation to feed the hungry poor throughout history which is why food banks have become a familiar feature of life today to help sustain those facing financial difficulties but in past times when real poverty was widespread and many faced extreme hardship it was the soup kitchen that provided help.

Soup became popular because it was a cheap and efficient method of distributing nutrition to those in need because it could be prepared in large quantities at a comparatively low cost. It therefore became a popular means of feeding huge numbers of people in times of deprivation, particularly in the workhouses of the 19th century and during prolonged spells of cold weather when many lower paid workers such as farm labourers were unable to work.

Soup kitchens were established whenever conditions were harsh, providing a place where food was offered free of charge or at a reasonably low price, usually funded by wealthy citizens or religious and charitable institutions as an act of philanthropy and in Bourne, they were set up at suitable locations such as the Town Hall, staffed by volunteers from church groups and elsewhere.

The Islington Soup Kitchen, founded in London in 1863, served a total of 7,031 quarts during the winter of 1903-04 while the notorious American gangster Al Capone financed a soup kitchen in the United States during the Great Depression, possibly to improve his image, and soup kitchens can still be found in the low income neighbourhoods of many countries for deprived members of society.

Bread was once the staple diet for labouring families and a survey of 1860 discovered that many adults consumed around 12 lbs. every week. It was often made more palatable by being covered with dripping or, very occasionally, a little butter. Small quantities of bacon, salt pork, beef, cheese and porridge, also formed part of many poorer people’s weekly diets although such nourishing foodstuffs were more frequently reserved for the man of the house who needed to keep up his strength to enable him work and maintain the family’s income.

Pea soups or weak broths were other standbys for poor families and in the 19th century, many families survived on a monotonous diet of bread, lard, vegetables and weak tea. Potato soup for mass consumption was an example of the food provided by some workhouses and a menu published in a pamphlet, Information for Overseers, was recommended by the magistrates meeting at the Town Hall in Bourne during a particularly cold spell in January 1800 with instructions for its preparation as follows:

“Put an ox’s head, well washed, into 13 gallons of water, add a peck and a half of pared potatoes, half a quart of a pint of onions, a few carrots and a handful of pot herbs, thicken it with two quarts of oatmeal (or barley meal) and add pepper and salt to your taste. Set it to stew with a gentle fire early in the afternoon, allowing as little evaporation as may be, and not skimming off the fat, but leaving the whole to stew gently over the fire, which should be renewed and made up at night.

“Make a small fire under the boiler at seven o’clock in the morning, and keep adding as much water as will make up the loss by evaporation, keeping it gently stewing until noon, when it will be ready to serve for dinner. The whole may be divided into 52 messes, each containing (by a previous division of meat and fat), a piece of meat and fat and a quart of savoury nourishing soup. The expenses of the meals are: ox’s head 2 shillings and sixpence; potatoes, onions etc 1 shilling and 1 penny; 2 quarters of oatmeal 11 pence; cost exclusive of fire and cooking: 4 shillings and 6 pence.”

History records many occasions when soup kitchens opened in Bourne. In January1861, for instance, there was a severe spell of extremely cold weather which halted work on the land when agricultural workers were not paid, leaving many households without an income to buy food.

A local newspaper reported: “About 220 gallons per week of most excellent soup, costing about 3d. per quart, have been distributed to all the necessitous poor who have applied for it and no doubt good service has been rendered to many persons who have suffered from the late inclement weather and want of employment. A fund raised for this object amounted to £34 15s. 7d. There have been eleven distributions of about 80 gallons each time and the last distribution for the season is intended to take place today.

“Each distribution, on an average, was purchased by 324 families, comprising 500 adults and 700 children. The cost of each distribution was about £4 and one third of that sum was received from the applicants at the rate of 1d. per quart. Thanks are due to the committee for the efficient manner in which they have discharged the duties devolving upon them.”

Three years later there was a similar crisis and a meeting was held at the Town Hall in January 1864 to consider the desirability of establishing a soup kitchen during the inclement weather. The newspaper reported: “A committee was formed, subscription lists opened and on three occasions, on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday, about 60 gallons of soup of excellent quality have been served out at a halfpenny a pint to a large number of applicants. About a dozen subscriptions have been opened, one at each of the banks and others with various tradesmen, where it is hoped that those who desire to support the soup kitchen will leave their subscriptions and thus avoid the necessity for a house to house collection, the committee having determined to adopt the former course.”

Today, soup kitchens survive to help for the homeless and destitute in many parts of the world while for the rest of us, soup is considered to be a small luxury rather than the necessity of past times, bought in tins at the supermarket or as a starter when dining out. Next time you tuck in, remember that it was once a lifeline for the poor and deprived.