Topic: rations
i am a retired USAF EOD troop now writing a book on the history of military rations. (any help appreciated)
Odd rations appear on ebay from time to time but forget the world war 2 c's or K's, they cost an arm and a leg. There are companies on the net making edible replicas for re-enactors dating back to the US civil war. There are W.W.I replicas for all countries.
LRPs were bad, sometimes. I had some when I was in Laos during the viet namese war. Heated they weren't too bad, if you couldn't heat your water, they were terrible, if you had to eat them dry, well I will leave crunchy chili to your imagination.
Although the trend is to the freeze dried MRE type, Most armies still go for the boil-in-bag style. During the yugoslavian war, the Today show in the states did a taste test on the various militaries rations. Understand that the testers were main line news anchors. The mre's were dead last in the eat-only-if-you-are-starving category. Even the russian rations beat them. French were first (any surprise there?) with the british next. They liked the little bottle of wine the French rations had.
and lastly. the civilian emergency versions of the MRE used in feeding the starving masses in third world nations are horrible. The are composed of food(?) that violates nobodies religious taboo, so it is food that no human will eat. The starving Kosovians (SP) burned them as fuel rather then eat them. If I had just spent 30 days in a life raft without food and was cosidering my companion as a componet in my next meal, i might think of eating one.
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