My nephew served during Operation Desert Storm and brought home left over MREs for some reason….along with other souvenirs. He left a boxful of stuff from that time with me…some of it pretty interesting.
At that time, I remember bringing a few MREs to my kid’s classes for them to see what they were like, and to taste them. I recall that each one of them always had a mini bottle of Tabasco sauce in them. They were pretty bland meals.
It looks like since Desert Storm, they are trying to improve those meals. They’ve even dropped them for people in need during disasters.
The US Army has a taste tester who makes sure the meals are just right.
“Like any chef, Jeanette Kennedy's pallet has become so refined over the years that, given any dish, she can single out virtually every ingredient – the pinch of black pepper, the hint of oregano, or the vegetable oil subbing for olive oil.
On a recent morning she was testing a slab of pound cake, her face blank as she silenced her other senses and focused on taste and texture. After a good long chew, Ms. Kennedy spit the cake into a paper cup – an indelicacy that was not a comment on the cake (which she deemed pretty good), but the result of a high calorie occupational hazard. This pound cake is no tea party trifle; it's combat cuisine – part of an MRE, Meal Ready to Eat – designed to fuel soldiers lugging 100-pound packs all day.
A food technologist at the US Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (NSSC) west of Boston, Kennedy faces creative challenges unlike those before any other chef. Meals can't just taste good; they've got to last ... for three years stored at 80 degrees F., be capable of withstanding chemical or biological attacks, and survive a 10-story free fall.”
Read the entire article from Christian Science Monitor
Hmm…3-year shelf life. Operation Desert Storm …1991….I guess I better go see if those MREs in the souvenir box have burst open!
There might be some funky noodle casserole in there. With those sheets of toilet paper (yes, they have some of that in with the MREs).
