I feel like applying for a job at the New York Times just so I can fix their terrible Flash-based gallery software which is used in this article and many others recently. Totally kills the otherwise-interesting browsing experience for me. HTML5 would be more than sufficient for this.
What Soldiers Eat, By Country
11–20 of 56 posts
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#12I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
How are those ingredients organized inside the main plastic bag?
For MREs, everything is vacuum packed in smaller plastic or foil-plastic with a jumble of accessories in another plastic bag. Generally you can save some weight/space by opening it up and ditching the outer wrap and unwanted items.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#13the accompanying article is much better, "A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder" ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05gilbertson.... The bit that caught my eye, "Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example" . I have a picture of the item being described here ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/4961948487/ which came from a PR1M (Patrol Ration One Man)…
I have two giant jars (910 g/2 lb each!) of Vegemite, one of which is approaching 2/3 empty. It's lovely stuff, though I can understand people hating it - it's concentrated and has an intense flavor, and people who don't know better probably use waaay too much. It tastes kind of like yeasty soy sauce that has been boiled down to a salty, thick black spread (or very dark, mushroomy miso). It's great scratched on butte…
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Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#14I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
I really loved the BBQ pork ribs. They also gave you soft bread in that pack, and I think it also came with mint pound cake. The article neglected to mention the tabasco being used in your eyes to keep you awake while on guard duty. I agree, the cheese spread (especially jalapeno) was the best. I would usually not eat the meat-like product in MREs.
Oh goodness, the jalapeno cheese spread was ever only in like 1 of the meals per box. People used to trade illicit bottles of liquor for one of those.
I got one of the worst cases of...erm..."intestinal movement"...from the ribs (fashioned into a sandwich with the bread of course). I could never bring myself to eat that particular meal again. I think they've replaced the bread in the newer (2009/2010) meals with a tortilla.
I still can't figure out how they made the pasta MREs so good. Old pasta noodles get soggy fast.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#15I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
I really loved the BBQ pork ribs. They also gave you soft bread in that pack, and I think it also came with mint pound cake. The article neglected to mention the tabasco being used in your eyes to keep you awake while on guard duty. I agree, the cheese spread (especially jalapeno) was the best. I would usually not eat the meat-like product in MREs.
> ...tabasco being used in your eyes to keep you awake while on guard duty
Commander: Son, why didn't you see that group of enemy soldiers neak up on and slit the throats of half our men?!
Soldier: Well, I don't know, but I sure didn't fall asleep, sir!
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#16the accompanying article is much better, "A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder" ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05gilbertson.... The bit that caught my eye, "Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example" . I have a picture of the item being described here ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/4961948487/ which came from a PR1M (Patrol Ration One Man)…
I have two giant jars (910 g/2 lb each!) of Vegemite, one of which is approaching 2/3 empty. It's lovely stuff, though I can understand people hating it - it's concentrated and has an intense flavor, and people who don't know better probably use waaay too much. It tastes kind of like yeasty soy sauce that has been boiled down to a salty, thick black spread (or very dark, mushroomy miso). It's great scratched on butte…
> I highly recommend adding some to soup stock, especially vegetarian soups
But can vegetarians eat bacteria? They are animals too.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#17I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
I heard constipation was a problem for soldiers. One other country supplied fiber pills. Did soldiers take Metamucil or something to help move things along?
Nothing much. Some of the meals have a high fiber cracker you can use with the Peanut Butter or Cheese Spreads and I think the chocolate drink mix has some fiber. But I don't think it provides nearly enough fiber to overcome the logjam inside you. Eventually it just passes. But the meals aren't meant for long-term survival (no more than a month or so) anyway.
I spoke one time with a researcher who worked for the part of the army that put together the requirements for the MREs and the problem is that getting fiber-full food to stay stable for 3 years is an open problem.
If you really look into the science behind the MREs it's really some amazing technology. There's also some really cool hacks they use to keep the food shelf stable without preservative chemicals. I wish I could find the article about some of what they do.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#18I noticed that a lot of this food is tinged with red or orange- which seems to be because it's high in protein. That got me to thinking- it must be difficult to be a vegetarian or a vegan in the army.
Which also got me to thinking- should you have the right to insist on vegetarian/vegan food? Not only is it more expensive and more of a problem to provide, but you are a tool of the army, and you probably do your job for them better when you get enough protein.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have two giant jars (910 g/2 lb each!) of Vegemite, one of which is approaching 2/3 empty. It's lovely stuff, though I can understand people hating it - it's concentrated and has an intense flavor, and people who don't know better probably use waaay too much. It tastes kind of like yeasty soy sauce that has been boiled down to a salty, thick black spread (or very dark, mushroomy miso). It's great scratched on butte…
> I highly recommend adding some to soup stock, especially vegetarian soups But can vegetarians eat bacteria? They are animals too.
That depends on how neurotic they are. (Laziest trolling ever, PS. Back to slashdot with you.)
I'm suggesting it specifically because vegetarian soups tend to have less umami (the savory, "meaty"/MSG flavor). Non-veg cooks can just simmer bones, etc., but vegetarians need to get umami from mushrooms, grilled root vegetables, boiled parmesan reggiano rinds (which are totally awesome, BTW), miso, etc., and vegemite is another option.
It's quite cheap (if you buy it in "I'm going backpacking forever and may not make it back to Australia"-sized jars) and keeps forever (what's it going to do...become more salty?), so it's pretty convenient.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#20I noticed that a lot of this food is tinged with red or orange- which seems to be because it's high in protein. That got me to thinking- it must be difficult to be a vegetarian or a vegan in the army. Which also got me to thinking- should you have the right to insist on vegetarian/vegan food? Not only is it more expensive and more of a problem to provide, but you are a tool of the army, and you probably do your job f…
How are vegetarian protein sources more expensive? Many are quite cheap (if sometimes bland). Most beans keep well and are easy to ship and prepare in bulk, which certainly suits the mess hall. I don't see how it'd be a huge logistics issue (compared to shipping/handling chicken, for example). I've never been in the military, but I've worked in a deli, and handling chicken sucks.
Also, the whole vegetarian "protein deficiency" thing has been pretty thoroughly debunked, unless you only eat potato chips. It's surprisingly difficult to eat a diet that won't give you at least a minimum of protein without dying from e.g. pellegra or beri-beri first. (Maybe not enough protein for hardcore bodybuilders, but certainly enough to live well.)