I believe that there soup kitchens. Although they were few and far between. Here is some trivia...Did you know that Al Capone (yes the gangster) started the Chicago soup kitchen's. He did not start...
many people couldn't pay for food so it was a place to get some for free
The "soup kitchens" were set up in the streets to feed the starving population, The most nutritional food that is cheap and easy to produce is soup.
probably soup that was easy to make so there would be enough to go around.
People that have have created kitchen,That why they had created cafeterias.