May 29, 2019 • 35 mins
Technologies developed to make military food rations dependable and acceptable have changed how everyone eats – civilians included. We explore the history & science behind feeding literal armies – plus what’s on the menus of the past, present, and future.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Sabor, a protection of I Heart
Radio and Stuff Media. I'm Anny and I'm Lauren bog Obam,
and today we're talking about m R Es. Yes, Mr
E the meal ready to eat meal comma ready to eat.
Really entertained by the comma. Yeah, I like the comment too.
That's a nice, nice touch. And I have had some
of these courtesy of a friend. Yeah, and they're about
(00:29):
what do you would expect? Okay, I would say, are
they like civilian version or did you get the oh,
you know, the actual military version, and like allegedly is
that during the research it seems like that might not
have should happened, but it did happen, But it did.
And I will not say was the person and do
not try to figure it out. Well, I I wasn't
(00:51):
gonna to be super honest. I mean I didn't think so,
but I just had to think that it's very stern warning. No, yes, no,
it's very very important. Um. And I have not had
one of these, yeah, I mean not even a civilian one.
Not even a civilian one. Ben Bolan is like a
(01:12):
little bit obsessed with them. And uh, and so I
think at some point we were going to try one
on snack stuff, but we never got it together to
order them. Well, there is still time, There's always time.
They last for up to three years. Wow. Every time
I do that, I think of a Win Wilson because
(01:33):
coworker Chandler, he always makes fun of me when I
say that anywhere anyway branks us to our question, mrs
what are they? Well? And m R E is a
modern version of military food and Drink rahs for deployed
(01:54):
service members. They come in pouches and contain a meal
plus usually a number of drink flavorings and snack. Is
meant to provide up to a day's worth of nutrition
in a single little packet. Mhmm. These days Mr e's
have several requirements. Long lasting, can survive a variety of
weather conditions, and being parachuted in light as flavorful as possible,
(02:16):
the right amount of calories and nutrients or approximately able
to be eaten cold or come with a way to
heat it, and by parachuting in by the way that's
up to one two hundred feet or air dropped from
a helicopter no parachute up to a hundred feet, which
is UM three D sixty six orty respectively. Yeah. Here
(02:40):
in the US, in order to figure out how to
make this happen, we've got a Combat Feeding Directorate, which
is part of a number of research teams within the
Massachusetts Native Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center. Yes, it's
in a town called Nating, Yeah. Um, and they have
their work cut out for them, y'all. Um. Preserving food
(03:02):
tends to mess with the flavors and textures and simultaneously
destroy some of the nutrients in it. So coming up
with something that is well preserved and also you know
that anyone would still want to eat. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we touched on that a little bit in our Space
food right absolutely. And a lot of the research that
has gone into creating military m r e s has
(03:23):
also gone towards the space program. It's a lot of
very similar teams. Um. There is also those side industry
of technology that's compatible with military vehicles but not necessarily
developed by the military, that can be used to like
heat or chill water and a number of m r
e s simultaneously. Essentially like a crock pot that you
can just plug right into your tank. M hmm. Yeah,
(03:46):
that's a fun image. It's a very militaristic little crock pot.
I like it, okay uh. Nutrition wise, m r eas
are carefully balanced for recommended intakes of macronutrients. You're fat, protein, carbs,
possibly fiber. A lot of them are pretty light on
fiber though, um. And also micronutrients your vitamins and minerals
(04:07):
and stuff, and these things will fill you up and
keep you going. They are designed to do that thing.
They do tend to have higher than the recommended intake
of sodium, but you know, as do a lot of
packaged and preserved foods. Yes, um. The number of calories
per pact depends on the recommended intake for the particular
deployment situation. In the US that the meals are set
(04:30):
around one thousand, two hundred calories, and sometimes the whole
pouch could contain about thirty six hundred calories in total
all the snacks included. There are supplements for extreme conditions,
though um, I read that Afghanistan m R e s
may contain a supplement to put them at forty six
hundred calories due to the rigor of working in all
that heat. And yes, that's a lot military personnel move
(04:51):
around a bunch carry heavy packs, do stuff athleticism. There
are currently twenty four options of m R e's in
the US, ranging from pork rib and clam chowder to
beef patty and nacho cheese pretzels. As of the U
S military was buying thirty six million m R e
(05:11):
s every year. From one story I read, depending on
the army, the quality of the m R E or
the that equivalent vary. So for example, one French ration
is worth five American m R E like on the
black market. Like yeah, Like if we were in a
luxury situation and you've got some gushers and I have
(05:31):
I don't know, stad chips that I just real I
really like gushers. Not everyone would agree with that. Oh sure, well,
I mean this is why trading could happen. Um. I
read a piece for Vices Munchie's Division by one David Wheelan,
who was reporting on what does appear in several different
countries m R E s or did as of sixteen ish.
(05:53):
The French one was by far the most fancy. Um.
They had duck com feete, dear patte and snacks, chocolate
yogurt in theirs. Confit I know, I'm not sure how
they did it. It's impressive. UM. In the US, the
main dishes are still mostly Italian, perhaps because tomato based
(06:14):
sauces are acidic enough to UM to really help along
the preservation process. UM snacks include stuff like cheese, spicy cheese.
It's spicy cheese. It's specifically like important thing. Oh it is,
We'll come back to that, UM, blueberry cobbler, bread, peanut butter,
and caffeine infused beef jerkey. Interesting. I agree. Britain's mains
(06:40):
include the aforementioned clam chowder and chicken tecamasala, plus extras
like taifou tea and breath mints. Yeah. One of my favorite,
one of my favorite brands. So good. UM Norway's dishes
include measly and a range of stews, cod, beef, and chicken,
plus fruit gummies for dessert. There with you on the
gush your um. Whelan reports that Italy's packs range more
(07:06):
Frenchish than italian Ish in flavors and stuff. He didn't
include any any specifics, but he did say that they
include at alcohol, breakfast shot. Oh, breakfast shot. It's a
breakfast shot. Yeah, well sure, sure sure. Columbia's got a
(07:29):
lot of rice and beans. Dishes, and um, this warm
sweet cheese drink which sounds like like a warmer cotta
milkshake to me. I don't know, it sounds really good.
He didn't seem to share about it, but I was like, yes,
warm cheese drink, I'll take it. And now South Korea
includes Beaming Bop and Kim Chee in their rations, and
Japan reportedly has hamburgers, hot dogs, and a range of
(07:51):
curries with pound cake for dessert. Wow. I wouldn't have
pegged that. I know, right, that's a weird, weird American
americanization over there. And m R. E superstition, superstitious superstition.
Every now and then charms candy appears in an m R. E.
And the superstition goes that this is very bad luck,
(08:15):
and eating it is even worse luck. The candy is
usually tossed, even if the soldier who received it doesn't
fin into it, because other soldiers around him sure don't
want that. No, not at all. Um. Those soldiers often
call m R. E's meals rejected by everyone, meals resembling edibles.
(08:36):
Meals refused by the enemy are meals rarely edible. They
have come a long way as part of what I
hope is like a larger movement to acknowledge that service
members are people with psychological wants and needs. Um, A
lot of research has been done into how to make
rations not just nutritionally adequate, but sensually acceptable or even better,
(08:58):
especially over time. Given that the range of what someone
finds acceptable on day like three is a lot wider
than what they'll find acceptable on week three. That is
a science fact um. And from a practical standpoint, I mean,
if people don't like the food, they might not eat
it and their performance capacity and morale will decrease. But
stuff like flavor preferences is being explored now. It's a
(09:18):
it's a really interesting intersection of science and technology and psychology. Absolutely,
we'll get into the history, but first we have a
quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. What rations to give
(09:41):
soldiers has been a problem throughout our history. I feel
like it comes up in every that we do, and
also what we have given soldiers, especially in our more
modern history, has gone on to shape food landscapes of
civilians like spam, craft, graf cheese, benjamine, chocolate, hip cookies.
Emminem's long before that, though. As long as there have
(10:05):
been soldiers, we've had to come up with ways to
feed them. There's a saying, often misattributed to either Napoleon
or Frederick the Great um an army like a serpent
goes on its belly. M both did say wise and
similar things about food being important for armies. But I
think a clever writer came up with that particular maxim
(10:25):
and hat tipped to a quote investigator dot com for
investigating it. Roman armies hunted whatever they could um. Some
records suggest that soldiers were given rations up to a
pound of meat a day. If true, that suggests that
they would travel with massive herds of sheeps, sheeps, sheeps,
sure yes, or pigs. We've talked about various foods like
(10:49):
garlic or wine or springs of water that were believed
to endow strength and or determined where armies would camp.
Widely viewed as the first permanent professional army, the rations
of the romanly genneras consisted of two pounds of bread
along with meat, olive, oil, and wine. Ancient Egyptian soldiers
described rations as quote meager and unpleasant. Spartan soldiers sometimes
(11:11):
subsisted off of something called black broth, which was boiled pigs, legs,
blood and vinegar. Medieval soldiers received salted fish, beer or wine, stew,
and bread. During the Crusades, crusaders sometimes lost battles because
they stopped to eat once arriving to a Muslim camp.
Christian soldiers typically had a supply of grains and dried meat.
(11:34):
Anything else like cheese or dried fruits and vegetables they
bought themselves locally. On top of that, during the First Crusades,
soldiers had to provide for themselves, which meant a lot
of them had to mortgage their property or sell their belongings.
So yeah, I'm sure they were hungry. Um that did
change with deals between merchants and military fleets. Let's talk
(11:56):
about the army of Gangis Khan. Yes, during the third century.
The Mongols similarly couldn't carry much with them, and what
they did carry they brought from home all out of
their sustenance, like wine they got locally. They too, brought
herds of livestock like sheep and cows with them as
they traveled, and they supplemented this with cured meat, mare's milk,
(12:17):
both fresh and fermented dried cheese curd and they would
hunt when necessary. Jumping ahead to the seventeenth century and
the Ottoman Empire, the janissaries the Sultan's foot soldiers had
a better deal. Their rations included fresh bread or biscuits,
a daily ration of meat, usually lamb or mutton, as
well as vulgar rice, honey and coffee, and party for horses.
(12:42):
Records show that one hundred and five ovens in Istanbul
were dedicated to baking biscuits for the soldiers. Apparently, some
folks accused bakers of keeping the flour for themselves, replacing
it with dirt in their biscuit baking, which resulted in
the deaths of several soldiers. Oh no, I know once
he goes that baguettes, the shape particularly were developed so
(13:03):
that soldiers could transport them along the legs of their pants.
Worth for the research. Absolutely. Feeding soldiers was a major
headache for George Washington and other officials during the American
Revolutionary War. Since Congress couldn't really tax people at the time,
they didn't have any money to buy rations for soldiers.
(13:25):
On top of that, they were dogged by transportation difficulties.
This meant soldiers sometimes would go without food four days,
and when they did have food, it was frequently wheat
and some meat that often had gone bad. Congress did
pass uniform rations in one pound of beef or salted
fish are three fourth pound of pork, one pint of milk,
(13:47):
one pint of spruce beer. This was to combat scurvy
or cider um, some molasses, and one pound of bread
or flour a day per week, one point of rice,
and three pounds of beans or peas. Some soldiers received
four ounces of room for their rations. However, this didn't
happen all the time. Um, they put the rules in place,
(14:07):
but that didn't mean their troubles went away. Washington ignored
Congress's suggestion that they take stuff from colonists and a
version of iou. He didn't think it would endear them
to anyone when trying to form a new country. Oh yeah,
now I can I can see that. Yes, yes, Also
this is a popular well not pot. I don't know.
(14:29):
It's a in a Hamilton's song, is what I was
trying to say. This whole struggle with feeding the soldiers. Yeah.
During the War of eighteen twelve, soldiers started planting gardens.
At military bases and outpost. And I know what you're thinking,
what about Napoleon. Well, we'll tell you the rations allotted
to his army, where one half pound of meat, twenty
(14:50):
four ounces of bread, up to two ounces dried peas
or lentils, a quart of wine, equal amounts brandy and vinegar.
But that too, rarely happened. They frequently resorted to potatoes
and corn, which were pretty much ready to eat, though
not very tasty straight out of the ground. The eighteen
sixty one Military Handbook and Soldiers Manual of Information provided
(15:11):
information on cooking large amounts of food for soldiers stationed
at forts. Rations for Union soldiers during the American Civil
War included three or four pounds of meat, a pound
of either corn mill or wheat, some vegetables, vinegar, and molasses.
This didn't last too long, though, hardtack biscuits, dried meat,
and vegetables became more than norm coffee, which was replaced
(15:33):
by rum um in some cases. As we discussed in
the past episode, coffee became extremely difficult to procure, especially
in the South. Oh yeah, um. As they marched south,
they got some crops locally, and they also received care
packages from home. Yeah, coffee. Around this time, there was
a whole thing of of people trying to figure out
how to technologically produce coffee that soldiers could take with them. Uh,
(15:57):
you know, we didn't have freeze drying yet, so some
kind of preservation of some kind of coffee concentrate purportedly
the very worst tasting coffee that anyone has ever had. Um,
I know that's a coffee that I know, me too.
I'm like, really, have you been to England? Like England,
(16:18):
even though we usually get America usually gets very pretty good.
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I've also sure yes, Um,
there there is a quote from a from a French
marshal Um mcmahone. I think it might also be misattributed. Um,
what vast events depend upon an army's not going into
action before it has had its coffee? Oh, shaping the
(16:43):
future objectory of nations? Right? Well anyway, yes, anyway was
the year we saw the first industrialized ration, the iron
ration three ounces of beefcake, some chocolate, and salt and pepper.
Canned food used for rations, made their first appearance in
the Spanish American War in but there are problems due
(17:08):
to improper ceiling. The foods frequently spoiled. We also talked
about this in our canned food episode um and how
Napoleon and his need to feed his soldiers pushed along
this innovation. By World War One, the canned food situation
was much improved. Canned meats and vegetables crackers the soldiers
dubbed dog biscuits. Soldiers in the trench might receive hot
(17:30):
meals made in the field and transported to them via
these big milk cans suspended on a pole between two soldiers.
They got tobacco and half a pound of candy every
ten days. World War two, soldiers got one of two
types of rations. Combat troops got, conveniently named Sea rations
Ration Combat Individual and the lighter, more easily transportable K Rations.
(17:54):
Originally designed for paratroopers. Sea rations had six containers poor
crate and two un it's the B unit and the immunit.
The B unit consisted of things like bread, sugar, and coffee,
while the IM unit consisted of eleven different meat and
vegetable options. Example of what you find in their canned
fruit frank and beans, instant coffee, chocolate slash fudge, processed cheese, crackers,
(18:20):
chewing gum, toilet paper and cigarettes in a matchbox and
I can opener. Yeah yeah, we talked about that in
our can opier episode as well. Um. These were designed
to deliver three thousand, six hundred calories and pretty much
everyone hated them. Um throw back to our spam episode.
Lots of throwbacks in this one. Like we said, it
(18:41):
has impacted a lot as the war raged on soldiers
sometimes would get things like Bouleon powdered lemon, sweetened cocoa
wooden spoon. There was also the A Ration which were
like the Choice A plus rations. They were fresh refrigerated
our frozen food and be Ration foods packaged foods prepared
(19:03):
in the mess hall or field kitchens. Of that commercial
candy popular option was Eminem's packaged in cardboard tubes. According
to the Eminem's website, Forest Mars Sr. Yeah, that Mars.
That Mars got the idea for Eminem's after witnessing soldiers
during the Spanish Civil War. Even pieces of chocolate coated
(19:25):
with a hard coat too of sugar to prevent melting.
Eminem's are still popular in rations as our skittles. Then
we see the m c I Meals Combat Individual or
Sea rats as the rations for American soldiers from nineteen
fifty eight to one, and this was a cardboard box
of one thousand, two hundred calories, composed of things like
(19:47):
canned meat, canned bread more often crackers, her biscuits, and
canned dessert like apple sauce or peaches, lots of cans,
and these cans weren't the easiest to carry around, so
soldiers would frequently take apart the box and put the
cans in their socks, which they would then hang from
their packs to cook meals. Some soldiers punched a hole
(20:08):
in their canned foods and heated it for sea four. Indeed,
oh um yeah. There there were main courses like ham
and eggs, the aforementioned means at Frank's, and permutations of spam.
That sounds like a modern art piece, It does, and
I want it. The folks at Mickelhenny sent soldiers mini
(20:31):
bottles of tabasco with recipe books to soldiers. Tabasco became
so popular that British ration packs sometimes contain it today.
Wow yeah. In the discovery of new freeze drying techniques
led to the creation of food packet Long Range Patrol
The l r P. And these were used for longer
missions and referred to freeze dried entrees that were pre
(20:54):
cooked and could be reconstituted in the field. They were expensive, however,
and did not stick around long, so they needed a replacement.
In the US government tapped civilian scientist Dr Abdul Rahman
to come up with one, and what he came up
with was an easily transportable, flexible pouch filled with a
dehydrated complete meal. The m R HE was recognized with
(21:19):
the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. The U. S Department of
Defense instituted the m R E as official combat rations
in nineteen seventy five, with the large scale production getting
underway a couple of years later in nine eight, and
delivery of m R E one began in one Then
they started field testing in and the consensus amongst soldiers
(21:42):
consuming three m R E s a day was basically,
they're fine, but they ate only around six of the calories, which,
like you said, learned, is a problem. But when they
redid the survey on the same divisions the same soldiers
thereabouts in nine six, they found the m R E's
were more highly rated and more highly consumed Frankfurter's. However,
(22:06):
we're called the four Fingers of Death now. They came
in little, four little links per package, four Fingers of Death. Nonetheless,
the d D did make a lot of changes with
the nineteen batches of m R E s packaged as
m R E eighteen. Serving sizes rose from five ounces
to eight ounces. Nine of twelve entrees changed, commercial candies
(22:28):
and hot sauces very key were added to four menus
each and basis for cold beverages added to all twelve.
In the early days of Operation Desert Storm, more changes
were made based on soldier feedback. M R E ten
replaced the old spray dried coffee with freeze dried coffee,
Hot sauces added to all twelve options, and commercial candy
(22:51):
was added to an additional four options totally eight. They
also swapped out dehydrated fruit with wet pack fruit. These
m R E s were designed to be stored for
up to three years at up to eighty degrees fahrenheit
that's around twenty s celsius without going bad, and yes
could be parachuted in Now officials only meant for soldiers
to eat Emory's for ten days during Operation desert storm,
(23:14):
but some soldiers ended up eating them for over sixty days.
As a result, three changes were quickly put into place.
Shelf stable bread in an emory pouch, a high heat
stable chocolate bar that could survive the desert heat. Of
their attempts had unsuccessfully produced an undesirable product like very
waxy um, and a flameless ration heater that the f
(23:36):
r H as a way to warm up andres f
r H s are banned on commercial flights. By the way, Oh,
I can see that hers, She's released their version of
this chocolate, this kind of newly designed heat resistant chocolate
desert bars during the GO four. It's very tricky because
you want to say desserts. That's not nope. In fact,
(23:56):
in fact Google is saying that we have misspelled that.
Right now, I know that flameless ration heater, by the way,
works via chemical reaction. It's a pouch of magnesium and salt,
and you just pouring a little bit of water and
and it creates a chemical reaction that heats the bag
by a hundred degrees fahrenheit within minutes. Yeah, you just
(24:16):
place whatever packet you're heating on top of the heat
back m Apparently after the main part of the Gulf War,
Colin Powell, then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
took up the cause of better m r e s personally.
Over the next few years, policies were adopted, like switching
out too many as a year. Some entrees were changed out,
(24:37):
chocolate and coffee were improved. In early they put into
place three more changes. I love this rule of threes
that's happening here. First, commercial graphics on the packaging after
studies showed that it meant higher rates of acceptance and consumption.
The packaging was also made easier to open. Biodegradable spoons
were added and they were elongated to make them easier
(24:59):
to use. And they also introduced these drink satchets that
could potentially remove the need for service members to carry
cups um. The packet just contains the flavoring. You add
water and you can drink right out of the pack
little caprice and sort of thing. Going to keep things
from getting monotonous, they increased menu options up to twenty
four and now with four vegetarian options and kosher and
(25:20):
halal options. Seventy new items have been approved for improvement
and fourteen of the least accepted replaced and progress continues.
In the early two thousands, research began in Earnest to
improve the sterilization process that's used to make m R
e's shelf stable. Up until that point, thermal processing was
(25:42):
the standard. It's similar to canning and means that whatever
you put in m R. E's has to be pretty
hardy and like maybe a little bit goopy and acidic.
There tends to be a high moisture level. The new process, though,
microwave assisted thermal sterilization, allows for lots of more delicate
foods to be preserved. UM dairy products, hole meats like
(26:04):
chicken breasts or fish, and fresh like vegetables. I'm still
not entirely sure what fresh like means, but uh yeah.
This also allows them to add in some nutrient boosters
like um uh lemon pound cake fortified with a Mega
three fatty acids that wouldn't survive the other process. However,
it does require different packaging. The current foil packs that
(26:25):
the food is sterilized in cannot be microwave because foils sparks. Yes,
and perhaps the pinnacle of this Throughout the twenty teens,
researchers have been working on an MRI E pizza that
can keep up for for up to three years and
apparently tastes like the cold pizza that so many of
us have enjoyed for breakfast. I'm not sure if they
(26:47):
actually have come out with it yet there there. I mean,
they keep saying like another six months, OD, it's gonna
be inyen. It's now twenty nineteen. I haven't read anything
about it actually being released. I think it was a
pepperoni and cheese pizza or something thereabouts. But it reminds
me of the thirty Rock episode where Matt Damon was
the pilot and he kept saying, we'll take off the
(27:07):
thirty minute delay because people will accept the thirty minute delay,
But then it was like hours because they've been trying
to get pizza. We talked about that in our Space
Food episode. Yeah, for ever since pizza has been part
of the American culinary environment, we've been trying to get
it into rations. UM. So if if anyone has an
(27:28):
update on that, let me know. I couldn't find anything
more recent than um than early and uh yeah, more
more research. They're currently looking into how m R E
foods impact our gut microbiome, which in turn impacts a
lot of factors in our health. There are civilian equivalents
to m R e's as well, for things like camping,
(27:49):
and they are considerably better quality because they don't have
to they don't have the same restrictions. Yeah, it's illegal
to sell military grade m R e's to civilians in
retail shops. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's destruction, there
was a push to work on ready to emails for civilians.
There are also m RIS design specifically for emergencies at
(28:09):
medical facilities. During emergencies where FEMA is called in, those
civilian kit producers switch over to producing exclusively for disaster
relief until the need is met. And uh yeah, that's
about what we have to say about m R e S.
I do want to recommend some further listening for y'all. Um.
(28:29):
The sport Full podcast did a great episode interviewing veterans
about eating while deployed back in December, and Gastropod actually
went inside Natix Labs in March, So check out those
two episodes. They're really good. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot
a lot to say. Oh yeah, many many opinions are
(28:50):
out there and and yeah, all of those great technologies
will we'll have to there. There were a few rabbit
holes that I was like, stream line, streamline, Um, the
coffee thing. Yeah, yeah, of coffee episode. It's coming eventually,
sad and it's coming. Yeah yeah. But for now we
(29:17):
have arrived at the end of this episode. But we
do have a little bit more for you. We do.
But first we've got one more quick break for a
word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
thank you, and we're back with listen Marl. Yeah, it's
(29:43):
true with you, Thank you, welcome, plays with you. I'm
always with you, podcast team forever. Samantha wrote, I'm ready
to tell you about what is undoubtedly the best complimentary
bar snack I have had, and it's right in my hometown.
(30:05):
The complementary snack is John Roll. Please a bucket of bacon. Yeah.
Every Thursday at a place called the Bog Pub is
Bacon Thursday. You sit down and then give you a
little metal bucket of delicious, crisp bacon. My mother has
always said how great the restaurant was, but when she
told me about this extra perk, I thought, what free
(30:28):
bacon every Thursday. Surely it can't be. So I went
to the Bog, sat at the bar, and almost immediately
the bartender plopped a little bucket of bacon in front
of me and asked what I was having. This may
or may not be part of the reason the Bog
Pub is my favorite restaurant in town. If you ever
come to Cape Cod, maybe visit for an episode on
Cape Cod Potato Chips. I highly suggest visiting Thursday or otherwise.
(30:50):
Oh yeah, that sounds fabulous. There there is a place
in town, leon So that at least used to have
on their menu on their like like small bites, not
even appetizer is like preappetizer bites. So you could just
get a little bucket of bacon um and for an
extra like buck you could get a sidecar of peanut
butter to dip it into. What I know, dude, Oh no,
(31:12):
I'm not sure. I must go now when the weekend
plans canceled, clear my schedule. I'll just be there joining
this every time I get hungry over the course of
several hours. Yea, no, but but but bacon Thursday. Tchi wrote,
(31:34):
I just listened to the Bar Snacks episode and I
was reminded of happy hour bar snacks at Morton Steakhouse
and had to share. I don't think they did this
at all locations, but they actually used to have free
file at sliders at the bar to make sure I
wasn't remembering incorrectly. Since people I asked around me had
no recollection of this, I tried searching for mentions of
it on the internet and found this from Seattle and
(31:57):
it was proof. It was proof of it was in
a happy hour guy um. Definitely one of the best
bar snacks I've had for the value goodness. I bet
I know that sounds amazing too. I know I'm not
even hungry, and I'm hungry. Oh gosh. A lot of
you have written in with the bar snacks that I
(32:18):
have found very unique and hunger inspiring, and probably be
hearing more from those listeners in this listener mail section
about those things in the future all there, It's all convoluted,
but it was in there. It was it was a sentence.
Eventually I had dreams and hope. He just kept believing
(32:38):
in it. I did, and it came to fruition. Did um.
We do have some announcements as well. Absolutely, as of
the day that this episode comes out. We are maybe
mostly Annie, but but me as well too. Are headed
to the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. Yes, yes, it
(32:59):
is a a fabulous celebration of everything that chefs around
Atlanta and the South in general and bartenders and other
food related humans are doing. Um. There's demonstrations, they're the
food tasting tensor. Overwhelming and wonderful. Yes, uh my hunt
for as many coozies as I can. Last year I
got sixty seven. I don't think I can tap it.
I um look forward to hearing all kinds of beverage
(33:24):
vendors um drink responsibly. I did not one of the
days last year. Well, it is a it's a long
you're in it for the long haul. You do you are, yes, um,
And it takes place all weekend long starting on There
is an event um the Thursday night before that is
also very wonderful. So if you're around, if you wanna,
(33:46):
you know, meet up, check it out. It's there and
it's fun and we recommend it. Yeah there, yeah, absolutely, yeah,
keeping keep an eye out for us if you see
someone with like fifty plus couzies. I don't want any judgment.
I only want help. Help finding the couzies not professional
(34:06):
for my cozy problem. Um, let's see what else is
going on. We're going to Hawaii, Yeah, right after that,
like immediately, like that Sunday. Um, We're we're going to
be there for for a couple of weeks where we're
bringing super producers Andrew and Dylan with us. We're going
to interview a whole bunch of cool people about cool stuff.
If you have any specific recommendations, we would love to
(34:28):
hear them. And that means since we will be gone
for two weeks, you will be hearing, um some classics.
We might do some classic episodes yeah, or show off
some of the some of the interviews that we got
to do on our previous trips that we never got
to share with you. Yeah, So hopefully you won't hate those. Oh,
(34:51):
they'll love them. They'll be like, get these people a
podcasts like we agree, we also would like a podcast
and away um in the meantime, Thanks to both of
these listeners for our writing to us. You two can
write to us. Our email is hello at savorpod dot
com and we are on social media. You can find
(35:12):
us there on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We are at
Savor pod we do hope to hear from you. Savor
is a production of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can visit
the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thank you as always to
our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you
for listening, and we hope that lots more good things
(35:33):
are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Sabor, a protection of I Heart
Radio and Stuff Media. I'm Anny and I'm Lauren bog Obam,
and today we're talking about m R Es. Yes, Mr
E the meal ready to eat meal comma ready to eat.
Really entertained by the comma. Yeah, I like the comment too.
That's a nice, nice touch. And I have had some
of these courtesy of a friend. Yeah, and they're about
(00:29):
what do you would expect? Okay, I would say, are
they like civilian version or did you get the oh,
you know, the actual military version, and like allegedly is
that during the research it seems like that might not
have should happened, but it did happen, But it did.
And I will not say was the person and do
not try to figure it out. Well, I I wasn't
(00:51):
gonna to be super honest. I mean I didn't think so,
but I just had to think that it's very stern warning. No, yes, no,
it's very very important. Um. And I have not had
one of these, yeah, I mean not even a civilian one.
Not even a civilian one. Ben Bolan is like a
(01:12):
little bit obsessed with them. And uh, and so I
think at some point we were going to try one
on snack stuff, but we never got it together to
order them. Well, there is still time, There's always time.
They last for up to three years. Wow. Every time
I do that, I think of a Win Wilson because
(01:33):
coworker Chandler, he always makes fun of me when I
say that anywhere anyway branks us to our question, mrs
what are they? Well? And m R E is a
modern version of military food and Drink rahs for deployed
(01:54):
service members. They come in pouches and contain a meal
plus usually a number of drink flavorings and snack. Is
meant to provide up to a day's worth of nutrition
in a single little packet. Mhmm. These days Mr e's
have several requirements. Long lasting, can survive a variety of
weather conditions, and being parachuted in light as flavorful as possible,
(02:16):
the right amount of calories and nutrients or approximately able
to be eaten cold or come with a way to
heat it, and by parachuting in by the way that's
up to one two hundred feet or air dropped from
a helicopter no parachute up to a hundred feet, which
is UM three D sixty six orty respectively. Yeah. Here
(02:40):
in the US, in order to figure out how to
make this happen, we've got a Combat Feeding Directorate, which
is part of a number of research teams within the
Massachusetts Native Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center. Yes, it's
in a town called Nating, Yeah. Um, and they have
their work cut out for them, y'all. Um. Preserving food
(03:02):
tends to mess with the flavors and textures and simultaneously
destroy some of the nutrients in it. So coming up
with something that is well preserved and also you know
that anyone would still want to eat. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we touched on that a little bit in our Space
food right absolutely. And a lot of the research that
has gone into creating military m r e s has
(03:23):
also gone towards the space program. It's a lot of
very similar teams. Um. There is also those side industry
of technology that's compatible with military vehicles but not necessarily
developed by the military, that can be used to like
heat or chill water and a number of m r
e s simultaneously. Essentially like a crock pot that you
can just plug right into your tank. M hmm. Yeah,
(03:46):
that's a fun image. It's a very militaristic little crock pot.
I like it, okay uh. Nutrition wise, m r eas
are carefully balanced for recommended intakes of macronutrients. You're fat, protein, carbs,
possibly fiber. A lot of them are pretty light on
fiber though, um. And also micronutrients your vitamins and minerals
(04:07):
and stuff, and these things will fill you up and
keep you going. They are designed to do that thing.
They do tend to have higher than the recommended intake
of sodium, but you know, as do a lot of
packaged and preserved foods. Yes, um. The number of calories
per pact depends on the recommended intake for the particular
deployment situation. In the US that the meals are set
(04:30):
around one thousand, two hundred calories, and sometimes the whole
pouch could contain about thirty six hundred calories in total
all the snacks included. There are supplements for extreme conditions,
though um, I read that Afghanistan m R e s
may contain a supplement to put them at forty six
hundred calories due to the rigor of working in all
that heat. And yes, that's a lot military personnel move
(04:51):
around a bunch carry heavy packs, do stuff athleticism. There
are currently twenty four options of m R e's in
the US, ranging from pork rib and clam chowder to
beef patty and nacho cheese pretzels. As of the U
S military was buying thirty six million m R e
(05:11):
s every year. From one story I read, depending on
the army, the quality of the m R E or
the that equivalent vary. So for example, one French ration
is worth five American m R E like on the
black market. Like yeah, Like if we were in a
luxury situation and you've got some gushers and I have
(05:31):
I don't know, stad chips that I just real I
really like gushers. Not everyone would agree with that. Oh sure, well,
I mean this is why trading could happen. Um. I
read a piece for Vices Munchie's Division by one David Wheelan,
who was reporting on what does appear in several different
countries m R E s or did as of sixteen ish.
(05:53):
The French one was by far the most fancy. Um.
They had duck com feete, dear patte and snacks, chocolate
yogurt in theirs. Confit I know, I'm not sure how
they did it. It's impressive. UM. In the US, the
main dishes are still mostly Italian, perhaps because tomato based
(06:14):
sauces are acidic enough to UM to really help along
the preservation process. UM snacks include stuff like cheese, spicy cheese.
It's spicy cheese. It's specifically like important thing. Oh it is,
We'll come back to that, UM, blueberry cobbler, bread, peanut butter,
and caffeine infused beef jerkey. Interesting. I agree. Britain's mains
(06:40):
include the aforementioned clam chowder and chicken tecamasala, plus extras
like taifou tea and breath mints. Yeah. One of my favorite,
one of my favorite brands. So good. UM Norway's dishes
include measly and a range of stews, cod, beef, and chicken,
plus fruit gummies for dessert. There with you on the
gush your um. Whelan reports that Italy's packs range more
(07:06):
Frenchish than italian Ish in flavors and stuff. He didn't
include any any specifics, but he did say that they
include at alcohol, breakfast shot. Oh, breakfast shot. It's a
breakfast shot. Yeah, well sure, sure sure. Columbia's got a
(07:29):
lot of rice and beans. Dishes, and um, this warm
sweet cheese drink which sounds like like a warmer cotta
milkshake to me. I don't know, it sounds really good.
He didn't seem to share about it, but I was like, yes,
warm cheese drink, I'll take it. And now South Korea
includes Beaming Bop and Kim Chee in their rations, and
Japan reportedly has hamburgers, hot dogs, and a range of
(07:51):
curries with pound cake for dessert. Wow. I wouldn't have
pegged that. I know, right, that's a weird, weird American
americanization over there. And m R. E superstition, superstitious superstition.
Every now and then charms candy appears in an m R. E.
And the superstition goes that this is very bad luck,
(08:15):
and eating it is even worse luck. The candy is
usually tossed, even if the soldier who received it doesn't
fin into it, because other soldiers around him sure don't
want that. No, not at all. Um. Those soldiers often
call m R. E's meals rejected by everyone, meals resembling edibles.
(08:36):
Meals refused by the enemy are meals rarely edible. They
have come a long way as part of what I
hope is like a larger movement to acknowledge that service
members are people with psychological wants and needs. Um, A
lot of research has been done into how to make
rations not just nutritionally adequate, but sensually acceptable or even better,
(08:58):
especially over time. Given that the range of what someone
finds acceptable on day like three is a lot wider
than what they'll find acceptable on week three. That is
a science fact um. And from a practical standpoint, I mean,
if people don't like the food, they might not eat
it and their performance capacity and morale will decrease. But
stuff like flavor preferences is being explored now. It's a
(09:18):
it's a really interesting intersection of science and technology and psychology. Absolutely,
we'll get into the history, but first we have a
quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. What rations to give
(09:41):
soldiers has been a problem throughout our history. I feel
like it comes up in every that we do, and
also what we have given soldiers, especially in our more
modern history, has gone on to shape food landscapes of
civilians like spam, craft, graf cheese, benjamine, chocolate, hip cookies.
Emminem's long before that, though. As long as there have
(10:05):
been soldiers, we've had to come up with ways to
feed them. There's a saying, often misattributed to either Napoleon
or Frederick the Great um an army like a serpent
goes on its belly. M both did say wise and
similar things about food being important for armies. But I
think a clever writer came up with that particular maxim
(10:25):
and hat tipped to a quote investigator dot com for
investigating it. Roman armies hunted whatever they could um. Some
records suggest that soldiers were given rations up to a
pound of meat a day. If true, that suggests that
they would travel with massive herds of sheeps, sheeps, sheeps,
sure yes, or pigs. We've talked about various foods like
(10:49):
garlic or wine or springs of water that were believed
to endow strength and or determined where armies would camp.
Widely viewed as the first permanent professional army, the rations
of the romanly genneras consisted of two pounds of bread
along with meat, olive, oil, and wine. Ancient Egyptian soldiers
described rations as quote meager and unpleasant. Spartan soldiers sometimes
(11:11):
subsisted off of something called black broth, which was boiled pigs, legs,
blood and vinegar. Medieval soldiers received salted fish, beer or wine, stew,
and bread. During the Crusades, crusaders sometimes lost battles because
they stopped to eat once arriving to a Muslim camp.
Christian soldiers typically had a supply of grains and dried meat.
(11:34):
Anything else like cheese or dried fruits and vegetables they
bought themselves locally. On top of that, during the First Crusades,
soldiers had to provide for themselves, which meant a lot
of them had to mortgage their property or sell their belongings.
So yeah, I'm sure they were hungry. Um that did
change with deals between merchants and military fleets. Let's talk
(11:56):
about the army of Gangis Khan. Yes, during the third century.
The Mongols similarly couldn't carry much with them, and what
they did carry they brought from home all out of
their sustenance, like wine they got locally. They too, brought
herds of livestock like sheep and cows with them as
they traveled, and they supplemented this with cured meat, mare's milk,
(12:17):
both fresh and fermented dried cheese curd and they would
hunt when necessary. Jumping ahead to the seventeenth century and
the Ottoman Empire, the janissaries the Sultan's foot soldiers had
a better deal. Their rations included fresh bread or biscuits,
a daily ration of meat, usually lamb or mutton, as
well as vulgar rice, honey and coffee, and party for horses.
(12:42):
Records show that one hundred and five ovens in Istanbul
were dedicated to baking biscuits for the soldiers. Apparently, some
folks accused bakers of keeping the flour for themselves, replacing
it with dirt in their biscuit baking, which resulted in
the deaths of several soldiers. Oh no, I know once
he goes that baguettes, the shape particularly were developed so
(13:03):
that soldiers could transport them along the legs of their pants.
Worth for the research. Absolutely. Feeding soldiers was a major
headache for George Washington and other officials during the American
Revolutionary War. Since Congress couldn't really tax people at the time,
they didn't have any money to buy rations for soldiers.
(13:25):
On top of that, they were dogged by transportation difficulties.
This meant soldiers sometimes would go without food four days,
and when they did have food, it was frequently wheat
and some meat that often had gone bad. Congress did
pass uniform rations in one pound of beef or salted
fish are three fourth pound of pork, one pint of milk,
(13:47):
one pint of spruce beer. This was to combat scurvy
or cider um, some molasses, and one pound of bread
or flour a day per week, one point of rice,
and three pounds of beans or peas. Some soldiers received
four ounces of room for their rations. However, this didn't
happen all the time. Um, they put the rules in place,
(14:07):
but that didn't mean their troubles went away. Washington ignored
Congress's suggestion that they take stuff from colonists and a
version of iou. He didn't think it would endear them
to anyone when trying to form a new country. Oh yeah,
now I can I can see that. Yes, yes, Also
this is a popular well not pot. I don't know.
(14:29):
It's a in a Hamilton's song, is what I was
trying to say. This whole struggle with feeding the soldiers. Yeah.
During the War of eighteen twelve, soldiers started planting gardens.
At military bases and outpost. And I know what you're thinking,
what about Napoleon. Well, we'll tell you the rations allotted
to his army, where one half pound of meat, twenty
(14:50):
four ounces of bread, up to two ounces dried peas
or lentils, a quart of wine, equal amounts brandy and vinegar.
But that too, rarely happened. They frequently resorted to potatoes
and corn, which were pretty much ready to eat, though
not very tasty straight out of the ground. The eighteen
sixty one Military Handbook and Soldiers Manual of Information provided
(15:11):
information on cooking large amounts of food for soldiers stationed
at forts. Rations for Union soldiers during the American Civil
War included three or four pounds of meat, a pound
of either corn mill or wheat, some vegetables, vinegar, and molasses.
This didn't last too long, though, hardtack biscuits, dried meat,
and vegetables became more than norm coffee, which was replaced
(15:33):
by rum um in some cases. As we discussed in
the past episode, coffee became extremely difficult to procure, especially
in the South. Oh yeah, um. As they marched south,
they got some crops locally, and they also received care
packages from home. Yeah, coffee. Around this time, there was
a whole thing of of people trying to figure out
how to technologically produce coffee that soldiers could take with them. Uh,
(15:57):
you know, we didn't have freeze drying yet, so some
kind of preservation of some kind of coffee concentrate purportedly
the very worst tasting coffee that anyone has ever had. Um,
I know that's a coffee that I know, me too.
I'm like, really, have you been to England? Like England,
(16:18):
even though we usually get America usually gets very pretty good.
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I've also sure yes, Um,
there there is a quote from a from a French
marshal Um mcmahone. I think it might also be misattributed. Um,
what vast events depend upon an army's not going into
action before it has had its coffee? Oh, shaping the
(16:43):
future objectory of nations? Right? Well anyway, yes, anyway was
the year we saw the first industrialized ration, the iron
ration three ounces of beefcake, some chocolate, and salt and pepper.
Canned food used for rations, made their first appearance in
the Spanish American War in but there are problems due
(17:08):
to improper ceiling. The foods frequently spoiled. We also talked
about this in our canned food episode um and how
Napoleon and his need to feed his soldiers pushed along
this innovation. By World War One, the canned food situation
was much improved. Canned meats and vegetables crackers the soldiers
dubbed dog biscuits. Soldiers in the trench might receive hot
(17:30):
meals made in the field and transported to them via
these big milk cans suspended on a pole between two soldiers.
They got tobacco and half a pound of candy every
ten days. World War two, soldiers got one of two
types of rations. Combat troops got, conveniently named Sea rations
Ration Combat Individual and the lighter, more easily transportable K Rations.
(17:54):
Originally designed for paratroopers. Sea rations had six containers poor
crate and two un it's the B unit and the immunit.
The B unit consisted of things like bread, sugar, and coffee,
while the IM unit consisted of eleven different meat and
vegetable options. Example of what you find in their canned
fruit frank and beans, instant coffee, chocolate slash fudge, processed cheese, crackers,
(18:20):
chewing gum, toilet paper and cigarettes in a matchbox and
I can opener. Yeah yeah, we talked about that in
our can opier episode as well. Um. These were designed
to deliver three thousand, six hundred calories and pretty much
everyone hated them. Um throw back to our spam episode.
Lots of throwbacks in this one. Like we said, it
(18:41):
has impacted a lot as the war raged on soldiers
sometimes would get things like Bouleon powdered lemon, sweetened cocoa
wooden spoon. There was also the A Ration which were
like the Choice A plus rations. They were fresh refrigerated
our frozen food and be Ration foods packaged foods prepared
(19:03):
in the mess hall or field kitchens. Of that commercial
candy popular option was Eminem's packaged in cardboard tubes. According
to the Eminem's website, Forest Mars Sr. Yeah, that Mars.
That Mars got the idea for Eminem's after witnessing soldiers
during the Spanish Civil War. Even pieces of chocolate coated
(19:25):
with a hard coat too of sugar to prevent melting.
Eminem's are still popular in rations as our skittles. Then
we see the m c I Meals Combat Individual or
Sea rats as the rations for American soldiers from nineteen
fifty eight to one, and this was a cardboard box
of one thousand, two hundred calories, composed of things like
(19:47):
canned meat, canned bread more often crackers, her biscuits, and
canned dessert like apple sauce or peaches, lots of cans,
and these cans weren't the easiest to carry around, so
soldiers would frequently take apart the box and put the
cans in their socks, which they would then hang from
their packs to cook meals. Some soldiers punched a hole
(20:08):
in their canned foods and heated it for sea four. Indeed,
oh um yeah. There there were main courses like ham
and eggs, the aforementioned means at Frank's, and permutations of spam.
That sounds like a modern art piece, It does, and
I want it. The folks at Mickelhenny sent soldiers mini
(20:31):
bottles of tabasco with recipe books to soldiers. Tabasco became
so popular that British ration packs sometimes contain it today.
Wow yeah. In the discovery of new freeze drying techniques
led to the creation of food packet Long Range Patrol
The l r P. And these were used for longer
missions and referred to freeze dried entrees that were pre
(20:54):
cooked and could be reconstituted in the field. They were expensive, however,
and did not stick around long, so they needed a replacement.
In the US government tapped civilian scientist Dr Abdul Rahman
to come up with one, and what he came up
with was an easily transportable, flexible pouch filled with a
dehydrated complete meal. The m R HE was recognized with
(21:19):
the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. The U. S Department of
Defense instituted the m R E as official combat rations
in nineteen seventy five, with the large scale production getting
underway a couple of years later in nine eight, and
delivery of m R E one began in one Then
they started field testing in and the consensus amongst soldiers
(21:42):
consuming three m R E s a day was basically,
they're fine, but they ate only around six of the calories, which,
like you said, learned, is a problem. But when they
redid the survey on the same divisions the same soldiers
thereabouts in nine six, they found the m R E's
were more highly rated and more highly consumed Frankfurter's. However,
(22:06):
we're called the four Fingers of Death now. They came
in little, four little links per package, four Fingers of Death. Nonetheless,
the d D did make a lot of changes with
the nineteen batches of m R E s packaged as
m R E eighteen. Serving sizes rose from five ounces
to eight ounces. Nine of twelve entrees changed, commercial candies
(22:28):
and hot sauces very key were added to four menus
each and basis for cold beverages added to all twelve.
In the early days of Operation Desert Storm, more changes
were made based on soldier feedback. M R E ten
replaced the old spray dried coffee with freeze dried coffee,
Hot sauces added to all twelve options, and commercial candy
(22:51):
was added to an additional four options totally eight. They
also swapped out dehydrated fruit with wet pack fruit. These
m R E s were designed to be stored for
up to three years at up to eighty degrees fahrenheit
that's around twenty s celsius without going bad, and yes
could be parachuted in Now officials only meant for soldiers
to eat Emory's for ten days during Operation desert storm,
(23:14):
but some soldiers ended up eating them for over sixty days.
As a result, three changes were quickly put into place.
Shelf stable bread in an emory pouch, a high heat
stable chocolate bar that could survive the desert heat. Of
their attempts had unsuccessfully produced an undesirable product like very
waxy um, and a flameless ration heater that the f
(23:36):
r H as a way to warm up andres f
r H s are banned on commercial flights. By the way, Oh,
I can see that hers, She's released their version of
this chocolate, this kind of newly designed heat resistant chocolate
desert bars during the GO four. It's very tricky because
you want to say desserts. That's not nope. In fact,
(23:56):
in fact Google is saying that we have misspelled that.
Right now, I know that flameless ration heater, by the way,
works via chemical reaction. It's a pouch of magnesium and salt,
and you just pouring a little bit of water and
and it creates a chemical reaction that heats the bag
by a hundred degrees fahrenheit within minutes. Yeah, you just
(24:16):
place whatever packet you're heating on top of the heat
back m Apparently after the main part of the Gulf War,
Colin Powell, then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
took up the cause of better m r e s personally.
Over the next few years, policies were adopted, like switching
out too many as a year. Some entrees were changed out,
(24:37):
chocolate and coffee were improved. In early they put into
place three more changes. I love this rule of threes
that's happening here. First, commercial graphics on the packaging after
studies showed that it meant higher rates of acceptance and consumption.
The packaging was also made easier to open. Biodegradable spoons
were added and they were elongated to make them easier
(24:59):
to use. And they also introduced these drink satchets that
could potentially remove the need for service members to carry
cups um. The packet just contains the flavoring. You add
water and you can drink right out of the pack
little caprice and sort of thing. Going to keep things
from getting monotonous, they increased menu options up to twenty
four and now with four vegetarian options and kosher and
(25:20):
halal options. Seventy new items have been approved for improvement
and fourteen of the least accepted replaced and progress continues.
In the early two thousands, research began in Earnest to
improve the sterilization process that's used to make m R
e's shelf stable. Up until that point, thermal processing was
(25:42):
the standard. It's similar to canning and means that whatever
you put in m R. E's has to be pretty
hardy and like maybe a little bit goopy and acidic.
There tends to be a high moisture level. The new process, though,
microwave assisted thermal sterilization, allows for lots of more delicate
foods to be preserved. UM dairy products, hole meats like
(26:04):
chicken breasts or fish, and fresh like vegetables. I'm still
not entirely sure what fresh like means, but uh yeah.
This also allows them to add in some nutrient boosters
like um uh lemon pound cake fortified with a Mega
three fatty acids that wouldn't survive the other process. However,
it does require different packaging. The current foil packs that
(26:25):
the food is sterilized in cannot be microwave because foils sparks. Yes,
and perhaps the pinnacle of this Throughout the twenty teens,
researchers have been working on an MRI E pizza that
can keep up for for up to three years and
apparently tastes like the cold pizza that so many of
us have enjoyed for breakfast. I'm not sure if they
(26:47):
actually have come out with it yet there there. I mean,
they keep saying like another six months, OD, it's gonna
be inyen. It's now twenty nineteen. I haven't read anything
about it actually being released. I think it was a
pepperoni and cheese pizza or something thereabouts. But it reminds
me of the thirty Rock episode where Matt Damon was
the pilot and he kept saying, we'll take off the
(27:07):
thirty minute delay because people will accept the thirty minute delay,
But then it was like hours because they've been trying
to get pizza. We talked about that in our Space
Food episode. Yeah, for ever since pizza has been part
of the American culinary environment, we've been trying to get
it into rations. UM. So if if anyone has an
(27:28):
update on that, let me know. I couldn't find anything
more recent than um than early and uh yeah, more
more research. They're currently looking into how m R E
foods impact our gut microbiome, which in turn impacts a
lot of factors in our health. There are civilian equivalents
to m R e's as well, for things like camping,
(27:49):
and they are considerably better quality because they don't have
to they don't have the same restrictions. Yeah, it's illegal
to sell military grade m R e's to civilians in
retail shops. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's destruction, there
was a push to work on ready to emails for civilians.
There are also m RIS design specifically for emergencies at
(28:09):
medical facilities. During emergencies where FEMA is called in, those
civilian kit producers switch over to producing exclusively for disaster
relief until the need is met. And uh yeah, that's
about what we have to say about m R e S.
I do want to recommend some further listening for y'all. Um.
(28:29):
The sport Full podcast did a great episode interviewing veterans
about eating while deployed back in December, and Gastropod actually
went inside Natix Labs in March, So check out those
two episodes. They're really good. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot
a lot to say. Oh yeah, many many opinions are
(28:50):
out there and and yeah, all of those great technologies
will we'll have to there. There were a few rabbit
holes that I was like, stream line, streamline, Um, the
coffee thing. Yeah, yeah, of coffee episode. It's coming eventually,
sad and it's coming. Yeah yeah. But for now we
(29:17):
have arrived at the end of this episode. But we
do have a little bit more for you. We do.
But first we've got one more quick break for a
word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
thank you, and we're back with listen Marl. Yeah, it's
(29:43):
true with you, Thank you, welcome, plays with you. I'm
always with you, podcast team forever. Samantha wrote, I'm ready
to tell you about what is undoubtedly the best complimentary
bar snack I have had, and it's right in my hometown.
(30:05):
The complementary snack is John Roll. Please a bucket of bacon. Yeah.
Every Thursday at a place called the Bog Pub is
Bacon Thursday. You sit down and then give you a
little metal bucket of delicious, crisp bacon. My mother has
always said how great the restaurant was, but when she
told me about this extra perk, I thought, what free
(30:28):
bacon every Thursday. Surely it can't be. So I went
to the Bog, sat at the bar, and almost immediately
the bartender plopped a little bucket of bacon in front
of me and asked what I was having. This may
or may not be part of the reason the Bog
Pub is my favorite restaurant in town. If you ever
come to Cape Cod, maybe visit for an episode on
Cape Cod Potato Chips. I highly suggest visiting Thursday or otherwise.
(30:50):
Oh yeah, that sounds fabulous. There there is a place
in town, leon So that at least used to have
on their menu on their like like small bites, not
even appetizer is like preappetizer bites. So you could just
get a little bucket of bacon um and for an
extra like buck you could get a sidecar of peanut
butter to dip it into. What I know, dude, Oh no,
(31:12):
I'm not sure. I must go now when the weekend
plans canceled, clear my schedule. I'll just be there joining
this every time I get hungry over the course of
several hours. Yea, no, but but but bacon Thursday. Tchi wrote,
(31:34):
I just listened to the Bar Snacks episode and I
was reminded of happy hour bar snacks at Morton Steakhouse
and had to share. I don't think they did this
at all locations, but they actually used to have free
file at sliders at the bar to make sure I
wasn't remembering incorrectly. Since people I asked around me had
no recollection of this, I tried searching for mentions of
it on the internet and found this from Seattle and
(31:57):
it was proof. It was proof of it was in
a happy hour guy um. Definitely one of the best
bar snacks I've had for the value goodness. I bet
I know that sounds amazing too. I know I'm not
even hungry, and I'm hungry. Oh gosh. A lot of
you have written in with the bar snacks that I
(32:18):
have found very unique and hunger inspiring, and probably be
hearing more from those listeners in this listener mail section
about those things in the future all there, It's all convoluted,
but it was in there. It was it was a sentence.
Eventually I had dreams and hope. He just kept believing
(32:38):
in it. I did, and it came to fruition. Did um.
We do have some announcements as well. Absolutely, as of
the day that this episode comes out. We are maybe
mostly Annie, but but me as well too. Are headed
to the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. Yes, yes, it
(32:59):
is a a fabulous celebration of everything that chefs around
Atlanta and the South in general and bartenders and other
food related humans are doing. Um. There's demonstrations, they're the
food tasting tensor. Overwhelming and wonderful. Yes, uh my hunt
for as many coozies as I can. Last year I
got sixty seven. I don't think I can tap it.
I um look forward to hearing all kinds of beverage
(33:24):
vendors um drink responsibly. I did not one of the
days last year. Well, it is a it's a long
you're in it for the long haul. You do you are, yes, um,
And it takes place all weekend long starting on There
is an event um the Thursday night before that is
also very wonderful. So if you're around, if you wanna,
(33:46):
you know, meet up, check it out. It's there and
it's fun and we recommend it. Yeah there, yeah, absolutely, yeah,
keeping keep an eye out for us if you see
someone with like fifty plus couzies. I don't want any judgment.
I only want help. Help finding the couzies not professional
(34:06):
for my cozy problem. Um, let's see what else is
going on. We're going to Hawaii, Yeah, right after that,
like immediately, like that Sunday. Um, We're we're going to
be there for for a couple of weeks where we're
bringing super producers Andrew and Dylan with us. We're going
to interview a whole bunch of cool people about cool stuff.
If you have any specific recommendations, we would love to
(34:28):
hear them. And that means since we will be gone
for two weeks, you will be hearing, um some classics.
We might do some classic episodes yeah, or show off
some of the some of the interviews that we got
to do on our previous trips that we never got
to share with you. Yeah, So hopefully you won't hate those. Oh,
(34:51):
they'll love them. They'll be like, get these people a
podcasts like we agree, we also would like a podcast
and away um in the meantime, Thanks to both of
these listeners for our writing to us. You two can
write to us. Our email is hello at savorpod dot
com and we are on social media. You can find
(35:12):
us there on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We are at
Savor pod we do hope to hear from you. Savor
is a production of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can visit
the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thank you as always to
our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you
for listening, and we hope that lots more good things
(35:33):
are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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