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Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to hungry and homeless people, usually for no cost, or sometimes at below-market price (such as coin donations). Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, soup kitchens are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church or community groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a food bank for free, or at a low price, because they are considered a charity, which makes it easier for them to feed the many people who require their services.
Historically, the majority of soup kitchens served mostly soup (or stew), usually with some kind of bread. Modern establishments which refer to themselves as "soup kitchens" frequently serve a wider variety of foods, so social scientists sometimes discuss them together with similar hunger relief agencies that provide more varied hot meals, such as community kitchens and meal centers.
While societies have been using various methods to share food with hungry people for millennia, the first soup kitchens in the modern sense may have emerged in the late 18th century. By the late 19th century, they were located in several American and European cities. In the United States and elsewhere, they became more prominent in the 20th century, especially during the Great Depression. With the much-improved economic conditions that immediately followed World War II, soup kitchens became less common in countries with advanced economies.
In the 21st century, the use of soup kitchens has increased in both the United States and Europe, following lasting global increases in the price of food which began in late 2006. Demand for their services grew as the Great Recession and the economic and inflation crisis of the 2020s began to worsen economic conditions for those with lower incomes. In much of the UK and Europe, demand further increased after the introduction of austerity-based economic policies from 2010. According to Emma Middleton, a poverty caseworker in the UK, in 2017 the situation and need for emergency food aid in the UK had changed significantly over the previous 15 years, as the cost of living increased and the existing safety nets had disappeared, adding that "In the first few years [of this work], food poverty was not an issue. The soup kitchens and churches could deal with it, and it was mainly homelessness. You never saw families like that. What we see now is a constant stream of food poverty."
The earliest occurrences of soup kitchens are difficult to identify. Throughout history, societies have invariably recognized a moral obligation to feed hungry people. The philosopher Simone Weil wrote that feeding the hungry when one has resources to do so is the most obvious obligation of all. She also said that as far back as Ancient Egypt, it was believed that people needed to show they had helped the hungry in order to justify themselves in the afterlife. Soup has long been one of the most economical and simple ways to supply nutritious food to large numbers of people.
In the Ayyubid dynasty, soup kitchens called "Takiyyas" emerged, besides providing food to the poor, they also served as shelters, and often served religious purposes. One of the earliest known such soup kitchens is the Abrahamic hospice in the Old City of Hebron, established in 1279CE by Sultan Qalawun, it continues to operate to this day.
The Christian church had been providing food to hungry people since St Paul's day, and since at least the early Middle Ages such nourishment was sometimes provided in the form of soup. From the 14th to the 19th centuries, Islamic soup kitchens, called Imarets, were built throughout the Ottoman Empire. Soup and bread were often the main food served, though sometimes also rice, meat, fruit and sweet puddings.
Social historian Karl Polanyi wrote that before markets became the world's dominant form of economic organisation in the 19th century, most human societies would generally either starve all together or not at all; because communities would naturally share their food. As markets began to replace the older forms of resource allocation such as redistribution, reciprocity, and autarky, society's overall level of food security would typically rise. But food insecurity could become worse for the poorest section of society, and the need arose for more formal methods for providing them with food.
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Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to hungry and homeless people, usually for no cost, or sometimes at below-market price (such as coin donations). Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, soup kitchens are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church or community groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a food bank for free, or at a low price, because they are considered a charity, which makes it easier for them to feed the many people who require their services.
Historically, the majority of soup kitchens served mostly soup (or stew), usually with some kind of bread. Modern establishments which refer to themselves as "soup kitchens" frequently serve a wider variety of foods, so social scientists sometimes discuss them together with similar hunger relief agencies that provide more varied hot meals, such as community kitchens and meal centers.
While societies have been using various methods to share food with hungry people for millennia, the first soup kitchens in the modern sense may have emerged in the late 18th century. By the late 19th century, they were located in several American and European cities. In the United States and elsewhere, they became more prominent in the 20th century, especially during the Great Depression. With the much-improved economic conditions that immediately followed World War II, soup kitchens became less common in countries with advanced economies.
In the 21st century, the use of soup kitchens has increased in both the United States and Europe, following lasting global increases in the price of food which began in late 2006. Demand for their services grew as the Great Recession and the economic and inflation crisis of the 2020s began to worsen economic conditions for those with lower incomes. In much of the UK and Europe, demand further increased after the introduction of austerity-based economic policies from 2010. According to Emma Middleton, a poverty caseworker in the UK, in 2017 the situation and need for emergency food aid in the UK had changed significantly over the previous 15 years, as the cost of living increased and the existing safety nets had disappeared, adding that "In the first few years [of this work], food poverty was not an issue. The soup kitchens and churches could deal with it, and it was mainly homelessness. You never saw families like that. What we see now is a constant stream of food poverty."
The earliest occurrences of soup kitchens are difficult to identify. Throughout history, societies have invariably recognized a moral obligation to feed hungry people. The philosopher Simone Weil wrote that feeding the hungry when one has resources to do so is the most obvious obligation of all. She also said that as far back as Ancient Egypt, it was believed that people needed to show they had helped the hungry in order to justify themselves in the afterlife. Soup has long been one of the most economical and simple ways to supply nutritious food to large numbers of people.
In the Ayyubid dynasty, soup kitchens called "Takiyyas" emerged, besides providing food to the poor, they also served as shelters, and often served religious purposes. One of the earliest known such soup kitchens is the Abrahamic hospice in the Old City of Hebron, established in 1279CE by Sultan Qalawun, it continues to operate to this day.
The Christian church had been providing food to hungry people since St Paul's day, and since at least the early Middle Ages such nourishment was sometimes provided in the form of soup. From the 14th to the 19th centuries, Islamic soup kitchens, called Imarets, were built throughout the Ottoman Empire. Soup and bread were often the main food served, though sometimes also rice, meat, fruit and sweet puddings.
Social historian Karl Polanyi wrote that before markets became the world's dominant form of economic organisation in the 19th century, most human societies would generally either starve all together or not at all; because communities would naturally share their food. As markets began to replace the older forms of resource allocation such as redistribution, reciprocity, and autarky, society's overall level of food security would typically rise. But food insecurity could become worse for the poorest section of society, and the need arose for more formal methods for providing them with food.
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