The Fragrance of Vagrants

Being big fans of soup, soup Nazis and various soup-styled book covers, I couldn't help but post about HoboSoup (for the record, I'm also a fan of hobos). In any case, the find comes from TheSneeze and apparently the stuff is truly delicious. Of course, I'd want to take a far closer look at the ingredients before downing spoonfuls. What's even more curious than the ingredient list to me, though, is how the product came to be. Here's the scoop straight from the can:

Hobo Soup was "born" in the restless, creative mind of Lem Kaercher, a small-town newspaper publisher from Ortonville, Minn. In 1953, Lem went into the "Jungles" of Ortonville in search of a feature story on Mr. Hobo, long an American legend. At conclusion of his visit, Lem was treated with some old-fashioned original, homemade Hobo Soup. A Hobo himself as a young man, Lem felt the world should share in this fine cuisine. For years, a proper Canner was sought, and finally in 1960, Lem and son, Jim, finally saw a dream come true... Hobo Soup on the Grocer's shelf - "A Jungle Recipe, Fit For A King!"

Amazingly, while the hobosoup site has links to national hobo association, and the hobo railroad, there's no link to the upcoming Britt Iowa Hobo Convention this August (it's the 9th-12th if you want to take the kids). Does anyone else smell a product tie-up? Especially with the Hobo King and Queen competition. After all, with previous hobo royalty going by names like Beef Steak Charlie, Frypan Jack and Songbird McCue, it seems to be a fertile recruiting ground for a real-life spokesman. Click here to inspect the soup site. Link via TheSneeze.