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What Soldiers Eat, By Country

nytimes.com

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Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#41

Post by elblanco »

silentbicycle wrote: post #29
elblanco wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some vegans try not to eat bacteria. It's usually not a problem for vegetarians.

You're probably thinking of Jains, not vegans.

Close I guess. I'm thinking more of recent convert Buddhist Vegan types. One gave me a 30 minute discussion over the current thinking in their particular vegan community...basically it amounted to being an absolutely impossible task to avoid eating bacteria so they can stay on the list of consumables, but everybody should be mindful of the lives they are snuffing out.

It was all rather eye-rolling. I can definitely see Jains getting in on that nonsense.

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#42

Post by elblanco »

thechangelog wrote: post #37
tlack wrote: post #11

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.

So would HTML 4.

Or HTML .

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#43

Post by leif »

silentbicycle wrote: post #39
leif wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vegan/vegetarian diet problem is very real, and it is not just protein. You can very easily miss out pretty severely on a lot of things just by cutting meat out of your diet (iron, for example), and you do have to work hard to make sure you maintain a balanced diet. I don't see this as a problem for MREs, as composition has been pretty well solved, and I doubt it makes it any harder to solve the perishable proble…

Eating a balanced diet isn't hard as long as you don't eat the same thing basically every day (i.e. fast food). I think it's probably a non-issue, except for (say) naive teenage vegetarians - it's only a problem if you cut out meat but don't replace it with anything. I've done my research - if you have specific examples to the contrary, I'm all ears. I ate a vegetarian diet for seven or eight years, a vegan diet for…

> I'm a cooking geek

hence, you should have no trouble. :)

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#44

Post by elblanco »

Volscio wrote: post #32
elblanco wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

On the plus side of field constipation, it keeps you from having to pop a squat in the middle of nowhere with no cover. :)

It could be intentional?

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#45

Post by silentbicycle »

leif wrote: post #43
silentbicycle wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating a balanced diet isn't hard as long as you don't eat the same thing basically every day (i.e. fast food). I think it's probably a non-issue, except for (say) naive teenage vegetarians - it's only a problem if you cut out meat but don't replace it with anything. I've done my research - if you have specific examples to the contrary, I'm all ears. I ate a vegetarian diet for seven or eight years, a vegan diet for…

> I'm a cooking geek hence, you should have no trouble. :)

I wonder how many people downvoting me even know what charcuterie is, let alone have done it. :)

Besides: Lentils, spinach, and broccoli have iron. How many vegetarians don't eat at least one of those regularly? (Other cliches: vitamin B-12 - Vegans might have a problem, vegetarians are fine. Calcium - "Dark green leafy vegetables". Do vegetarians eat those? Oh. Wait...do carnivores eat those?)

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#46

Post by silentbicycle »

elblanco wrote: post #41
silentbicycle wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're probably thinking of Jains, not vegans.

Close I guess. I'm thinking more of recent convert Buddhist Vegan types. One gave me a 30 minute discussion over the current thinking in their particular vegan community...basically it amounted to being an absolutely impossible task to avoid eating bacteria so they can stay on the list of consumables, but everybody should be mindful of the lives they are snuffing out. It was all rather eye-rolling. I can definitely s…

Which is pretty funny - Gautama emphasized a practical "middle path" rather than some extremist monastic malarkey, specifically because that sort of crap completely detaches you from daily life.

I've found it useful time and time again to be wary of recent converts of all stripes, whether it's Veganism, Objectivism, Haskell, etc.

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#47

Post by zootar »

sliverstorm wrote: post #18

I 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…

In the case of the Canadian meal, the image isn't really representative of the variety of meals that exist. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Meal_Pack for the list of entrees in 2005.) Certainly meat features in the majority, but every soldier can expect a vegetarian meal with some frequency. Choosing her example meals, I think it's possible that the article's author was somewhat biased toward names like "Swiss steak with Spanish sauce" and away from pasta, baked beans and other commonly canned foods.

It's already been suggested that providing vegetarian meals is a logistical nonissue. (Canadian soldiers are also entitled to Kosher and Halal meals, and I can't imagine that that's uncommon.) But it's easy to imagine military professionals arguing the opposite. Logistics, tactics, and esprit de corps are used to justify several kinds of bigotry and obstinacy in Western militaries. It seems to me that, as a rule of thumb, legitimate military concerns do not easily justify lower standards of tolerance, human rights, or, (as Julien Assange will agree) openness. Canada has rejected at least two of these arguments experimentally by allowing openly gay service members (unlike the US) and by permitting women to serve in every trade (unlike the US and the UK).

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#48

Post by elblanco »

silentbicycle wrote: post #46
elblanco wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Close I guess. I'm thinking more of recent convert Buddhist Vegan types. One gave me a 30 minute discussion over the current thinking in their particular vegan community...basically it amounted to being an absolutely impossible task to avoid eating bacteria so they can stay on the list of consumables, but everybody should be mindful of the lives they are snuffing out. It was all rather eye-rolling. I can definitely s…

Which is pretty funny - Gautama emphasized a practical "middle path" rather than some extremist monastic malarkey, specifically because that sort of crap completely detaches you from daily life. I've found it useful time and time again to be wary of recent converts of all stripes , whether it's Veganism, Objectivism, Haskell, etc.

> Gautama emphasized a practical "middle path" rather than some extremist monastic malarkey

If I remember, enlightenment was not found in the extremes under Kaundinya.

That message really seems to be lost I think. Both in the purposeful following of an extreme ideal, or in not being mindful of extreme habits.

Even if one is not a Buddhist, the concept of the middle path can be wonderfully freeing from expectations of extreme ideologies that sometimes ferment under civilizations.

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#49

Post by silentbicycle »

elblanco wrote: post #48
silentbicycle wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is pretty funny - Gautama emphasized a practical "middle path" rather than some extremist monastic malarkey, specifically because that sort of crap completely detaches you from daily life. I've found it useful time and time again to be wary of recent converts of all stripes , whether it's Veganism, Objectivism, Haskell, etc.

> Gautama emphasized a practical "middle path" rather than some extremist monastic malarkey If I remember, enlightenment was not found in the extremes under Kaundinya. That message really seems to be lost I think. Both in the purposeful following of an extreme ideal, or in not being mindful of extreme habits. Even if one is not a Buddhist, the concept of the middle path can be wonderfully freeing from expectations of…

Yep, the Buddhist stories say that he spent a while as a rich prince, then some sort of eXtreme(TM) yogi, and neither really worked out for him.

The popular American impression of Buddhism is pretty weird - historically, it's heavily skewed towards Japanese Zen Buddhism, but secondhand, from the Beats* . The way people talk about Zen, you'd think it had antioxidants or something.

* Due to their infatuation with the San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki, etc.

Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country

#50

Post by bootload »

silentbicycle wrote: post #7
bootload wrote: post #2

the 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 have two giant jars (910 g/2 lb each!) of Vegemite ..."

The biggest tins (yes, tins) I found of Vegemite was in Colac at local grocery store weighing in at 5Kg. I wish I had a photo. Sounds like you, @silentbicycle have an acquired taste for the stuff. Love offering it to American folk who usually accuse me of trying to poison them. Marmite is similar but there is a distinct taste difference. Both do well as stocks.

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