As the worlds first prepared dish, soup has been at the forefront of filling and nutritious meals since rudimentary cooking vessels like troughs, animal hides, and even earthen pots were finally replaced by more durable and versatile metal pots and cauldrons. With this development, man advanced from simply eating wild grains, seeds, or meat placed in or near a fire to preparing honest-to-goodness soups and stews that followed some vague notion of food as a pleasing experience rather than the simple necessity of fueling the body. Soup became the unpretentious, unparalleled comfort food for all of civilization, the one dish that would, in turn, sustain thousands of ancient Roman plebeians, millions of medieval peasants, and countless settlers of the New World.