While at Rotten Tomatoes for lunch today, they had a little sign above the bean soup that referred to a legend involving bean soup and the US Capitol.

Internet info is sparse, but I’ll pass this along as fact anyway, and you can decide whether or not to believe it.

One day between 1903 and 1911 Joseph G. Cannon, who was Speaker of the House at the time, had a hankering for some bean soup. He went to the cafeteria and was dismayed not to find any. He is reported to have exclaimed the following:

“Thunderation, I had my mouth set for bean soup! From now on, hot or cold, rain, snow or shine, I want it on the menu every day.”

And so it came to be. Ever since, each of the 11 eating spots in the capitol have bean soup on the menu every day.

I was confused, however, as to why the recipe would be called “Senate Bean Soup” if it was the Speaker of the House who was doing the bellowing. Alternate versions of the story credit Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota as the disappointed soup-seeker, but that doesn’t fit in with the Minnesota Nice image.

Whether the story is true or not, +350 points for use of “Thunderation” in a legend.

Source: This Site, which seems to be dedicated to soup.

Update: Joey G’s wiki site characterizes him as something of a tyrant, so I’m thinking he’s the soup guy. As a related tidbit, Joseph G. Cannon was on the first cover of Time Magazine.