Who doesn’t like a nice steaming hot bowl of homemade soup? We’re not talking about the stuff that’s canned and found at your local grocery store. No, we’re talking about real homemade soup that’s put together with love. A food that scientists believe is one of the most important inventions of human civilization. And to show just how important this food is, it was even given its own holiday. A holiday celebrated on February 4th and known as National Homemade Soup Day.

The History Of Soup

Soup is one of mankind’s oldest inventions, although it’s not quite as old as fire-roasted meats. Anthropologists and historians say there’s evidence of soup going back to at least 20,000 BC. Mankind began roasting meat as far back as 500,000 years ago, but it wouldn’t be until humans invented watertight containers that they were capable of boiling their food.

These early humans used clay vessels or animal hide baskets to make their soup. They would use hot rocks to bring the water to a boil, and they would add otherwise inedible foods into the water. This included animal bones, acorns, and grasses that were too tough to eat raw. This allowed early humans to extract nutrition that was previously unavailable to them from scraps. This was huge during a time when food was scarce and humans had to scavenge as many calories and nutrients as they could.

Soup not only helped humanity feed themselves when only scraps were available, but it is also credited with forming the foundation for the first public restaurants. In 18th century Paris, cooks began making broth and bouillon dishes that were known as “restoratifs.” The word restaurant is taken from the name of this class of restorative soups.

With the invention of canning during the 19th century, commercial soups became popular. One popular brand of canned soup was condensed soup—a soup that needs water or milk to be added to it before it can be eaten. This type of soup was invented by John T. Dorrance in 1897. Mr. Dorrance was the chemist for the Campbell Soup Company.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the history behind National Homemade Soup Day as it’s been lost to the currents of time. All we do know about this holiday is that it was probably created by someone who really enjoyed homemade soup.

Observing National Homemade Soup Day

Anyone who wants to celebrate this holiday had better be ready to put in some work. That’s because this isn’t just Soup Day, but it’s Homemade Soup Day. That means everyone who celebrates this day had better be prepared to make their own soup or at least buy a soup that someone has made from scratch.

Of course, making soup can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You can make a simple broth, or make something as complex as Wedding Soup. It’s up to you. Just be sure to capture a picture of your soup and post it on social media using the hashtag #NationalHomemadeSoupDay.