For over a century, Bean Soup has been served daily in the Senate's dining room. It's a simple white-bean and ham hock soup. Growing up my family had a similar soup that we would eat with cornbread (the unsweetened variety.)
It's a humble soup that doesn't appear much on menus, but somehow found its way to being a staple in the US Senate's dining room. The question is: How? Why? And, most importantly, is the Senate's version of this soup any good?
Senate Bean Soup is part of a "State on a Plate" series where a state's story is told through cooking the regions most famous, beloved or one-of-a-kind recipes. Senate Bean Soup was served as a representation of The District of Columbia. Read the full history and plate breakdown here.
Where did Senate Bean Soup come from?
The US Senate is steeped in tradition. It comes as no surprise that they have a page memorializing Senate Bean Soup. The Senates official traditions page states the following:
"the Senate’s bean soup tradition began early in the 20th century at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho, who as chair of the committee overseeing the Senate Restaurant, passed a resolution in the committee requiring that bean soup be on the menu daily.
Another story attributes the request to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, who expressed his fondness for the soup in 1903 and insisted that it be on the menu each day."1 `
Fred Dubois's recipe included mashed potatoes. It likely makes the soup creamier and gives it more mouthfeel. However, today's version of the soup served in cafeteria excludes the potatoes, and instead has more onion.
Reading this, and having eaten a fair amount of this type of soup, I am preparing myself for a soup that is more on the bland side. And, I'm not alone in that, according to the "The Soups in the World," "most reports ... suggest that it unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired." 23
Before, we get into making, rating, and improving the recipe, I can't help but share the biggest scandal in DC's history... Well, it was a big scandal on March, 25 1949.
The soupy scandal that rocked the District
Forget the origin story, the most interesting story about Senate Bean Soup has to do with a woman named Marion Carpenter. Marion Carpenter, a trailblazer in the 1940's, at the age of 24 was selected to be a staff White House Photographer. She became one of the first female member's of the White House News Photographers Association She was best known for trailing President Truman wherever he went. If you've ever seen a photo of President Truman stopping on a walk to sniff flowers, she's the one who took it.
Her male colleagues often complained about the access she got to the people of the White House. It was always within the press core and never public. She didn't allow that to deter her - she continued to take photos. However, it came to a head in 1949 when one of her fellow press made an 'on the record' comment.
According to her obituary, when "Washington Times-Herald columnist Tris Coffin complained in print that she used her feminine charms – "smiled and teased" – to persuade politicians to pose for her"4 she had had enough.
The next time she saw Coffin was in the Senate Dining Room. She did what any upstanding citizen would do: she "sloshed a bowl of navy bean soup over his face, then stalked out." And, like any good photographer, she posed with her bowl and stated "I don't have to smile and tease anyone into a photo." According to the Evening Star Article from that day - Coffin sat covered in soup for over an hour before he headed home to change.
Unfortunately, one Mr. William Perry was in the splash zone. Marion did what any good human would do, and gave him - William Perry - a $1 to cover dry cleaning his now soupy suit. It's reported that he was unbothered, walked to his dry cleaner, got a different suit and carried on the day.
Let's Rate It:
Cooking Level: Easy
This is straight-forward to make. It takes a long time, but doesn't require special technique, equipment or ingredients. The most difficult thing to find is the Smoked Ham Hocks, but they could easily be substituted for a hunk of bone-in Ham.
Would I make it again? No
No, I would not make this specific recipe. It's bland, and boring. It wasn't worth the time. How it's stayed on the menu so long really beats me. There are far better Ham and White Bean soup recipes out there than this.
With all that being said...
Would I eat it again? Maybe.
Listen, if I got invited to the Senate dining room, it's game on. I would 100% order this soup and compare notes to what the public recipe is versus what I am served. (If a senate staffer reads this, I WOULD love to try the real thing. Please reach out.)
Does it live up to the hype? Overrated.
It's rare that a dish sticks around on a menu for 100+ years. There is a lot of hype around this and it's not great. The best part of this soup is the story of it being dumped on someone's head.
Let's make Senate Bean Soup
Without further adieu, here is the Senate Bean Soup! This recipe is direct from the Senate's Tradition and Symbols page.
Footnotes & Resources
- “U.S. Senate: About Traditions & Symbols | Senate Bean Soup.” Www.senate.gov, www.senate.gov/about/traditions-symbols/senate-bean-soup.htm.↩︎
- Wikipedia Contributors. “Senate Bean Soup.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 June 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_bean_soup↩︎
- Wright, Clifford A. (2009), The Best Soups in the World, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-18052-5↩︎
- Truman, H. S. (1947). White House News Photographers Association [Photograph]. In National Archives Catalog. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/345249593, NAID: 345249593, Local ID: 58-217↩︎
- From. “Marion Carpenter, 82; ’40s News Photographer Died in Obscurity.” Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2002, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-nov-29-me-marion29-story.html. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.↩︎
- “Image 13 of Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), March 25, 1949.” The Library of Congress, 2020, www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1949-03-25/ed-1/?sp=13&st=image&r=0.256. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.↩︎