US: Most US troops survive on precooked "meals ready to eat" (MREs) than can survive on the shelf for up to eight years. The Pentagon is now stirring up the recipes, writes Julian E Barnes in Washington
Truth be told, the chicken pesto pasta - star entry of the US army's new combat rations for troops in battle - was flavourful, if a bit mushy.
As in kitchens across the world, the military's goal for pasta is to have it tender but firm. But to make a combat ration that can survive on the shelf for up to eight years, it takes more than a gentle boil. Army pasta is precooked for 1½ hours at 126 degrees and 15lbs per square inch of pressure.
"It is very difficult to put a pasta product in an environment like that," says Gerald A Darsch, the US department of defence's combat feeding director, "and have it come out al dente."
The US army unveiled some of its new meals ready to eat (MREs) at the Pentagon on Wednesday. As military chefs refine their cuisine, top on the list - or at least most highly rated in army field tests - was the chicken pesto, prepared with sun-dried tomatoes and farfalle pasta. The pesto will replace the chicken pesto and the pasta with alfredo sauce, which is already off the menu. Both are considered to be the military's most disgusting mealtime offerings.
The new dishes appeal to spicier tastes, a reflection of the changing preferences of young grunts, Mr Darsch says. They also are a nod to the fact that soldiers and marines frequently add large amounts of hot sauce to their MREs.
"We are all used to carrying a bottle of hot sauce around," said Col John Biggs, who was among those in the Pentagon courtyard sampling the new offerings with Lieut Col Vincent Whitehurst. Both gave the extra spice a thumbs up. "It adds more flavour," Lieut Col Whitehurst said, "or it conceals the preservatives".
Most MREs come with their own container of hot sauce. Of the 24 MREs currently available, 15 come with Tabasco sauce, while others have red-pepper flakes, a "seasoning blend" or jalapeno ketchup.
The lunchtime line at the Pentagon to try the new MRE entrees had dozens of soldiers. "The army travels on its stomach," quipped
J Paul Boyce, an army spokesman.
It takes two years for new MRE entrees to go into circulation among troops in the field. That marks a dramatic improvement, Mr Darsch says - it used to take four years. Soldiers and marines won't be eating the chicken pesto until 2008.
MREs date from 1983, when they replaced the individual combat meal - the C-ration - a canned staple of the second World War and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
"I am old enough to remember the ones that came in a can," said Col Jess Soto, a 59-year-old Vietnam War veteran who works in the Pentagon.
"You really had to acquire a taste for them."
Col Soto said he liked the new MRE dishes, but he noted he wasn't eating them in the right environment to truly enjoy their charm. "They taste better if you haven't eaten for a few days," he said, "and you are under extreme stress". - (LA Times-Washington Post Service)