Spinning off from another thread, what foods do we consume today that started as military rations? I can think of three off the top of my head.
SPAM=WW2
M&Ms=WW2
Goldenbergs Peanut Chews=WW1
Any others?
Printable View
Spinning off from another thread, what foods do we consume today that started as military rations? I can think of three off the top of my head.
SPAM=WW2
M&Ms=WW2
Goldenbergs Peanut Chews=WW1
Any others?
Bully Beef, AKA tinned corned beef. It goes back to the Boer War.
My dad and I used to have bully beef sandwiches right up to when he passed away. I still have the occasional one although my culinary elitist wife won't go near the stuff.
My dad hated SPAM and mutton to the day he died. He once claimed that was all they got when they were in the islands during the war.
M&M candy. Melt in your mouth and not in the pacific heat.
Instant coffee. Freeze dried.
---------- Post added at 05:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:47 AM ----------
M&M candy
Instant coffee
T.V diners=WW2 bomber crews
Wasn't "Camp Coffee" originally invented for use by the British military in Victorian times?
I remember in the army cadets that occasionally we got given some packets of thin dry biscuits that looked as if they had squashed flies in them. These packets of biscuits had come from ration packs and it did give us something to talk about and debate for half an hour or so when they appeared. Does anyone know the origin of them, please? I'm guessing that they were made that way so that they would have a long shelf life.
The 'dead fly' biscuits were in fact Garibaldi biscuits. They usually came in a green foil packets of 5 or 10. You had to be a bit careful because also in a very similar packet, were BISCUITS, AB. These were supposedly or rumoured to prevent unnecessary stops for the toilet. Hence the AB part became Biscuits, 'Arxe Blocking'. No doubt, the best of all, Oatmeal blocks. All were made by Huntley and Palmer at Reading with packet marked H&P or occasionally, Carrs Biscuits (CBC)
Peter, I've got to ask you the million dollar question concerning all the rumours over the years about British army tea having an extra magic ingredient to subdue soldier's desire to sleep with women. Have you ever seen any evidence that there may be any truth in the rumours?
Yep, each urn of Army tea was topped up with a 2lb bag of high grade bromide and stirred in by the gormless cooks. It's just started to work!
Adding to the list, Camp Pie supposedly dates to before the Crimean War and was used as a ration item. It is found on the shelf of every supermarket in Oz next to bully beef. I like it fried as a breakfast meat, but it's a non-starter for the wife. Do they still sell it in the U.K.?
:lol:....:clap:Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
I can't say that I've ever heard of it but it may still be sold here under a different name. I take it that it's a tinned meat intended to go into a pie rather than a meat pie that's been canned? What type of meat is it, beaf, pork or something else?Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul S.
But, the greatest of all proper ANZAC biscuits. I really didn't know what they were when I went to Oz. The tastiest biscuits known to man. Our cooks used to make a tray of them and leave them on the serving bays in the kitchens. The Poms have never heard of them and I've never seen them here.
Maybe one of you ANZACS can explain...........
I love corned beef especially with a hearty mustard. Back when the army baked their own bread I would barter for a loaf. In the field especially in the summer because the fat would melt in the can. Cut a couple thick slices then spoon the corned beef and rendered fat on it with a huge spoonful of mustard. Wash it down with a couple ice cold beers at the end of a long day. Of course that's when I was in my early 20's and worked it off. I now treat myself to maybe two cans a year now.
Not to get off topic, but what the h*ll is Vegemite? I've heard it mentioned but as a yank, have no clue what it is...
Russ
If you click on the word in your post it'll show you. Here's a link...Quote:
Originally Posted by RASelkirk
Vegemite - Wikipedia
HMMM, I thought Spam came out for WW 1? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by WarPig1976
I could be wrong....:dunno:Quote:
Originally Posted by Merle
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve762
OK, thanks. It was not introduced for WW1; makes me wonder what I was remembering..... :dunno:
Processed cheese was invented by Kraft in WW1.
Probably one of the biggest foods developed in WW2 is one we never think of as having come from the military. We consume millions of tons of it every year without giving its origin a thought. It’s found around the globe and common as a bag of chips (crisps in the UK).
It’s the cheese flavoring in many of the snack foods we eat today. Dehydrated cheese powder is light weight and lasts a very long time. Just what the US military was looking in WW2.
The military used the Spray-drying method to dehydrate other foods, like milk, eggs and ……….
Object of Interest: Cheese Powder - The New Yorker
Bully beef? I think canned bully beef(corned beef)made it's rounds for WW1. I sure ate enough during certain years in the army. I'd melt the grease to the closed end of the can on the manifold of an armored vehicle and open the other with it's key. I'd use a knife to eat it and leave the grease at the bottom...very quick meal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merle
Trench Food
Mate, it's made from things that would ended up as tinned dog food otherwise - beef tongue and mutton hearts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flying10uk
---------- Post added at 01:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:07 PM ----------
Best biscuits ever!!! Seriously, ANZAC Biscuits and a cuppa is heaven on earth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
The recipe included rolled oats, Golden Syrup, flour baking soda and butter. I'll scan the recipe from the gold standard, The Commonsense Cookery Book.
You are correct sir...lips and ars*holes and such. I don't like it because I don't like it. Not because they ground up garbage and put it in cans.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul S.
When you are hungry, you will eat items you would never have considered before.
No joke. And when you are heavily physically fatigued there are things you simply won't eat. I'm thinking about trying to eat after some 14-20 mile mountain hikes.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
Bob
Been there Buddy...Quote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
And other things you're dying for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Womack
And when you get a real meal you think you’ve died and gone to heaven.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
For me it was a churrasco steak with rice and beans. I remember it well. Sold my blood to get the money to pay for it.
To be honest and kind, some of the cooks, whom we called both 'slop jockeys' and 'fitters and turners' could make any old slop edible with a bit of effort. Especially when you're tired and hungry. On the other hand, there were other cooks who just slopped it up and it still looked and tasted like shxx. Most of us, probably like every other crunchie in the known universe always had a tube of curry powder, marmite/vegemite and stuff like that tucked in the bottom of his kidney pouches or rolled up in the poncho was always a good safe place. Some blokes just had a knack of being able to do something with Compo. Others like me were useless. Little known is that the chocolate in the UK rations was a special mix by a little firm in Scotland (forget the name now.....) that contained virtually no salt to prevent thirst. They also made the UK Military YORKIE bars.
As a bit of an aside regarding compo food. I used to invigilate some soldiers who were looking towards their first (or second) promotion to assess how they coped and acted in a group when things were getting a bit tough and also have oversight of their map reading/compass skills - or occasionally, lack or TOTAL lack of skills. Those with absolutely no map reading or directional or compass skills were swiftly side-lined to become Officers............. just joking! Anyway at the end of a couple of days out in the open when that part of the exercise was due to end, most of them would want to dump the remaining rations and plough on to the end a bit lighter. All well and good........ but they didn't know that if they did this, by arrangement, the exercise would be extended for technical reasons. The next day would be a bit of a bastxxx and all on starvation rations! That could be an eye opener too because it showed who could run a bolshy team, who could plan a small 'emergency' and who would/could equalise the compo so that everyone had a fair share. Good teambuilding and I wonder why these big multi-nationals don't do similar things to see who really deserves to be sat in the board room. A bit of paintballing or mud wrestling is OK but......
Nutella. I don't know if it is in the UK or Canada but it's still here in the states.
BTW I was stationed at Bentwaters/WoodBridge in 71.
I got the shuttle bus run on my base in the Peoples Republic of Californistan and when asked the time it went as follows
For all you Airforce personel the time is 6 PM
for all Army personel it is now 1800
for the navy it's 4 bells (probably nit right and I never understood that silly bell system but nobody else but the occasional swab would know anyways:madsmile:)
for all marines and officers Mickey's big hand is straight up and his little hand is straight down
Margarine was created on request of napolean III for the military (and lower class).
Me, and I'm sure, many others as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
I remember thinking it a treat warming up 1944 dated C-Rats on the manifolds of my boat in 1969. And being 25 years old they tasted pretty darn good. Must have had great preservatives back then. I didn't smoke and traded the little five pack of cigarettes for the Chiclets. Eventually they ran out and is was catch as catch can. I hated those long insertions.
I had forgotten some of that. We were out on Coronado-cross-the-bay, on the beach strip you and others here must know well. We were doing IBS surf indoc with the USMC and when lunch arrived, it was C's from 1945. All well marked and perfect condition... Well, it WAS 1974 so they were pretty new still. I remember the smokes the next January up in Ft Wainwright when Bear and I were doing a Jack Frost ex or whatever we called it then. The good smokes went fast and the Benson and Hedges 100's were everywhere...menthols...yuk.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
One of the civilian mess caterers at Warminster was on the compo ration procurement and evaluation side of catering for many years before he went over to the 'industrial catering' side of life. He told me that this meant dealing with the actual make-up, quality, sealing and packaging etc etc of all Army field rations. It was a very complex process dealing with calorific values and all that palava, must be able to be eaten hot and cold, ability to be heated to x temp using 1 hexi block in x amount of water. A lot of it was tested on the blokes based at the Demonstration Battalion at Warminster in hot and cold climates. Of course, they wanted all commercial boil in the bag stuff that they get at home but out in the field ain't home with a big hot stove or oven! They also wanted sweets and crisps etc etc as snacks!!! It also had to last a long time and remain tightly sealed for years. Chocolate and sweets were formulated to keep off thirst so very little salt content. Best was tins of course but big drawbacks so double sealed and lined bags were necessary but were easily split.
All these conditions made it VERY expensive to procure. But a very interesting mess caterer.
The good thing about it was after evaluation by the teams after field testing changes etc etc, they could introduce it into the general mess fare a bit at a time and utilise it. I used to take the sweets and chocolate bars up to the workshop res room for the blokes to have at break times. They could taste the difference between it and the commercial chocolates/sweets that looked similar. Also took the odd case of unused stuff for my sons school CCF (Cadets) and they'd use it on their field days and training exercises.
To be honest, there must be the makings of a good little book about the various field rations used among the armies........ After all, someone's written a book about webbing kit!
One of my Snr NCOs collected foreign rations as well...Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
You're elected!Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
I look forward to adding it to my limited culinary arts collection.