15 bean soup is a soup comprise of fifteen kinds of bean, common in the United States, and having a history that goes back over a century. While people once mixed their own beans, today a mixture of the fifteen dried beans with standard seasonings is often purchased to start off the process, although this was possible even long ago, as attested to by mail-order catalogues from the first half of the 20th century. While the normal recipe includes ham, it is a popular dish among vegetarians, sans meat.