Editing Portable soup (section)

===Mrs Dubois===
As a mass-produced product, portable soup is generally held to have been invented by Mrs Dubois, a [[Tavern#United Kingdom|London tavern keeper]] who, with [[William Cookworthy]], won a contract to manufacture it for the [[Royal Navy]] in 1756. Mrs Dubois was described as "a person of good character and circumstances". She operated from a tavern, at the Golden Head, in Three Kings Court in [[Fleet Street]]. She may have been the widow of a French chef and tavern keeper; but, by 1757, she had a new husband, Edward Bennet, son of a Sheffield knife-grinder. The contract with the navy was alluded to in advertising material long after it had lapsed, Benjamin Piper, successor in the business announced he was "Successor to Messieurs Bennet and Dubois, The original Portable Soup-Makers to His majesty’s Royal Navy" and one Vigor, successor to Piper, used the same rubric on his flyers.<ref>Obituary of Edward Bennet in ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]'', vol. 59 (pt 1) (1789). Yorkshire Archaeological Society, MD335/1/6/4/6.</ref> The naval authorities {{Clarify|date=November 2009}} hoped that portable soup would prevent [[scurvy]] among their crews. They therefore allotted a daily ration to each sailor beginning in the 1750s. [[Captain Cook]] was convinced of its efficacy and carried it on both his [[Pacific Ocean|South Seas]] voyages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cook|first=James|date=1776|title=The Method Taken for Preserving the Health of the Crew of His Majesty's Ship the Resolution during Her Late Voyage Round the World. By Captain James Cook, F. R. S. Addressed to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P. R. S.|jstor=106286|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume=66|pages=402–406|doi=10.1098/rstl.1776.0023|bibcode=1776RSPT...66..402C|s2cid=186212653}}</ref>

[[Lewis and Clark]] carried portable soup on their 1804–1806 expedition into the territory of the newly acquired [[Louisiana Purchase]]. According to his letter from [[Fredericktown, Ohio]], on 15 April 1803, Lewis purchased the soup from Francois Baillet, a cook in [[Philadelphia]]. He paid $289.50 for the 193 pounds of portable soup stored in "32 canisters".<ref>{{cite book |title= Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West |last= Ambrose |first= Steven E. |year= 1966 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= New York |isbn= 0-684-81107-3 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/undauntedcourag000ambr }}</ref> Lewis carried it with him overland to the embarkation point on the [[Ohio River]].