Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market,/i>, by John Lewis Krimmel, Philadelphia, PA, circa 1811.


 This painting shows a barefoot black woman ladling cups of soup from a pot for her white customers.
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In the 1790s Philadelphia became a refuge for Afro-Caribbeans fleeing war in Haiti. Cooking inexpensive local foods with Caribbean spices, Haitian immigrants helped create a unique Philadelphia cuisine. This included pepper-pot, a thick, spicy soup made of vegetables and tripe, ox-feet, or other cheap meats, sold by street vendors for a few pennies.