Wednesday 13 May 2009

Better Chow For UK Troops!

An interesting report on BBC yesterday caught my eye.

The Ministry of Defense has unveiled new-look ration packs for troops, with halal, vegetarian, Sikh and Hindu variations. How's that for covering all one's bases?

Apparently frontline troops were suffering from menu fatigue ... the same bully beef every day for months on end! Baked beans didn't inject that much more variety, so the current choice of a cooked breakfast, muesli or porridge is considered an infinite improvement.

Because of demanding regimens, UK troops consume about 4000 calories per day. The old days of tasteless heavy tin cans have been replaced by sachets with seasoning, Tabasco sauce, biscuits and even items such as green curries and salmon pastas!

Interesting though ... no mention anywhere of nutritional value. Just calories and taste.

Oh well, at least things seem to be going in the right direction as far as variety is concerned. And I guess if meals have to survive different climates and last for as long as 18 months, the possibility of fresh, natural foods must be completely out of the question.

1 comment:

Jan from BetterSpines said...

One would hope that there was some nutritional value in the food. Well, maybe. At least your insightful articles provide excellent food for thought.