Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
March 19, 2008
Pg. F1
By Walter Nicholls, Washington Post Staff Writer
When U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan open group combat rations in the months to come, they might find an unexpected treat: a walnut tea cake that serves 18. And before they even get to it, they'll have chicken pesto pasta and Burgundy beef stew to finish off.
At a recent Pentagon demonstration of advances in field food, a group of Army veterans and young soldiers who had recently returned from Iraq stood shoulder to shoulder with military brass to sample entrees and desserts that will be introduced in war zones over the next few years. A compact one-day food supply for mobile combat troops -- the First Strike Ration -- also made its debut.
The media event, hosted by Army Secretary Pete Geren, showcased selected rations developed at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. In a crowded Pentagon office corridor, two folding tables were turned into an instant buffet for more than 100 invited guests. Small samples of more than a dozen dishes were served by members of the Natick staff.
The new menu items will arrive at the front lines in several guises. The chicken pesto pasta, for example, will be available as a Unitized Group Ration, or UGR-E, a new self-contained module that can provide 18 hot meals in 30 to 45 minutes, replacing the need for a field kitchen. Other entrees, such as the Southwest beef and black beans that will replace the unpopular beef enchilada, are destined as MREs, which stands for meal ready to eat.
Depending on their location, most U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan eat in mess halls managed by catering contractors. The MRE and UGR-E were designed for Special Operations forces, military police and artillery soldiers in remote locations.
Soldiers can choose from among 24 MRE menus, up from 12 in 1998. On average, 3 million cases (36 million meals) of MREs per year are shipped overseas in peacetime, while hundreds of millions are shipped in wartime.
The UGR-E consists of four stacked trays -- one each for the entree, vegetable, starch and dessert -- packed in a cardboard box the size of a small suitcase. Chemical reactive packets to heat the meal are tucked under the trays. At the pull of a tab, a saline solution hits the sealed packets and the heating process begins.
Part of the Army Field Feeding System, the ration has a shelf life of 18 months when stored at 80 degrees; it drops to six months at 100 degrees. For the most part, field rations are stored in climate-controlled warehouses. UGR-Es are available to troops in seven breakfast menus and 14 lunch/dinner menus.
The set calorie count for operational rations is substantial -- 3,600 per day -- and the foods at the Pentagon event tasted that filling. World War II veteran William Kelley said he enjoyed the entrees he tried, which included garlic mashed potatoes and barbecued pork.
"It's all good," said Kelley, 86, who served in Europe and lives at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest. "What they served us in combat -- the K rations -- were terrible. They gave us eggs cooked in flour that came in small boxes."
Army Reserve cadet and Arlington resident Kadija Kargbo, 26, praised the beef teriyaki. "This is good. The meat is soft and tender," she said after a bite.
I was less satisfied than Kelley and Kargbo with what the Natick chefs had produced. I found the chicken pesto pasta mushy, with an overwhelming aroma and taste of dried basil. Slices of meat in the beef brisket selection swam in a gluey, salty sauce. A barbecued pork wrap had an artificially smoky, even burned, taste.
But maybe you have to have military experience to appreciate the stuff. After all, this is industrially processed food designed for extreme circumstances, not a Georgetown dinner party spread.
Chef R.J. Cooper and sous-chef John Engle of Vidalia in downtown Washington were also asked to critique the dishes. Cooper was polite as he walked the buffet line, telling his hosts that "the flavors are good." Later, he had less-flattering things to say about the food, but he gave high marks to the chefs for their efforts.
"Was it the best food I've ever had? No. A lot of it tasted chemically induced. And, oh my, the dried basil," said Cooper, who also has not served in the military. "But it would bring comfort to soldiers. It shows a lot of skill and knowledge. It's important, what they are trying to do."
Engle, who served in the U.S. Marines for 12 years until 2004, found the new menu "drastically different and vastly improved" from the field rations he was served. "These dishes actually have pieces of meat that you can cut with a knife," he said.
For Natick researchers, the challenge is to bring flavor to foods that have, for the most part, been cooked to death. The prepared entrees are thermo-stabilized, cooked using the same technology used to can food: heated pressure cooking.
"When you start applying heat and pressure, we like to say 'chemistry happens,' " said Kathy-Lynn Evangelos, a civilian who works in Natick's Combat Feeding program. "Some things don't hold up well. Flavors and textures change. Eggs get rubbery. Fish degrades and loses quality."
Beef, pork and chicken are more reliable. "We don't have mystery meats," Evangelos said.
With all combat rations, Natick researchers must take into account long-term food safety and packaging. Then there is the issue of flavor. Once a year, researchers go into the field and soldiers score new dishes, which must receive a 6 or higher on a scale of 1 to 9 to make it onto the final menu.
Some foods, such as desserts, are commercially produced. A chocolate cappuccino cake served at the Pentagon and slated for combat feeding in 2009 was surprisingly good, compared with the entrees.
"It could be from Olive Garden. But I'm not saying it is," Evangelos said.
Joyce Ramona, an American Legion staff member, liked the new palm-size French toast pocket sandwich, made with shelf-stable bread and a maple-flavored filling.
"I got out six years ago," Ramona said. "I don't believe what they're serving. To go from franks and beans to a French toast pocket: I really like this."
Evangelos said the breakthrough to a good pocket meal came with ability to lower the pH of bakery goods for safe preservation.
Army Brig. Gen. Albert Bryant Jr., who is stationed at the Pentagon, said he was impressed by the new menu as he worked the buffet.
"What's different?" asked Bryant. "This has flavor. I'm not going to wolf this down. I'll take my time."
March 19, 2008
Pg. F1
By Walter Nicholls, Washington Post Staff Writer
When U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan open group combat rations in the months to come, they might find an unexpected treat: a walnut tea cake that serves 18. And before they even get to it, they'll have chicken pesto pasta and Burgundy beef stew to finish off.
At a recent Pentagon demonstration of advances in field food, a group of Army veterans and young soldiers who had recently returned from Iraq stood shoulder to shoulder with military brass to sample entrees and desserts that will be introduced in war zones over the next few years. A compact one-day food supply for mobile combat troops -- the First Strike Ration -- also made its debut.
The media event, hosted by Army Secretary Pete Geren, showcased selected rations developed at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. In a crowded Pentagon office corridor, two folding tables were turned into an instant buffet for more than 100 invited guests. Small samples of more than a dozen dishes were served by members of the Natick staff.
The new menu items will arrive at the front lines in several guises. The chicken pesto pasta, for example, will be available as a Unitized Group Ration, or UGR-E, a new self-contained module that can provide 18 hot meals in 30 to 45 minutes, replacing the need for a field kitchen. Other entrees, such as the Southwest beef and black beans that will replace the unpopular beef enchilada, are destined as MREs, which stands for meal ready to eat.
Depending on their location, most U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan eat in mess halls managed by catering contractors. The MRE and UGR-E were designed for Special Operations forces, military police and artillery soldiers in remote locations.
Soldiers can choose from among 24 MRE menus, up from 12 in 1998. On average, 3 million cases (36 million meals) of MREs per year are shipped overseas in peacetime, while hundreds of millions are shipped in wartime.
The UGR-E consists of four stacked trays -- one each for the entree, vegetable, starch and dessert -- packed in a cardboard box the size of a small suitcase. Chemical reactive packets to heat the meal are tucked under the trays. At the pull of a tab, a saline solution hits the sealed packets and the heating process begins.
Part of the Army Field Feeding System, the ration has a shelf life of 18 months when stored at 80 degrees; it drops to six months at 100 degrees. For the most part, field rations are stored in climate-controlled warehouses. UGR-Es are available to troops in seven breakfast menus and 14 lunch/dinner menus.
The set calorie count for operational rations is substantial -- 3,600 per day -- and the foods at the Pentagon event tasted that filling. World War II veteran William Kelley said he enjoyed the entrees he tried, which included garlic mashed potatoes and barbecued pork.
"It's all good," said Kelley, 86, who served in Europe and lives at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest. "What they served us in combat -- the K rations -- were terrible. They gave us eggs cooked in flour that came in small boxes."
Army Reserve cadet and Arlington resident Kadija Kargbo, 26, praised the beef teriyaki. "This is good. The meat is soft and tender," she said after a bite.
I was less satisfied than Kelley and Kargbo with what the Natick chefs had produced. I found the chicken pesto pasta mushy, with an overwhelming aroma and taste of dried basil. Slices of meat in the beef brisket selection swam in a gluey, salty sauce. A barbecued pork wrap had an artificially smoky, even burned, taste.
But maybe you have to have military experience to appreciate the stuff. After all, this is industrially processed food designed for extreme circumstances, not a Georgetown dinner party spread.
Chef R.J. Cooper and sous-chef John Engle of Vidalia in downtown Washington were also asked to critique the dishes. Cooper was polite as he walked the buffet line, telling his hosts that "the flavors are good." Later, he had less-flattering things to say about the food, but he gave high marks to the chefs for their efforts.
"Was it the best food I've ever had? No. A lot of it tasted chemically induced. And, oh my, the dried basil," said Cooper, who also has not served in the military. "But it would bring comfort to soldiers. It shows a lot of skill and knowledge. It's important, what they are trying to do."
Engle, who served in the U.S. Marines for 12 years until 2004, found the new menu "drastically different and vastly improved" from the field rations he was served. "These dishes actually have pieces of meat that you can cut with a knife," he said.
For Natick researchers, the challenge is to bring flavor to foods that have, for the most part, been cooked to death. The prepared entrees are thermo-stabilized, cooked using the same technology used to can food: heated pressure cooking.
"When you start applying heat and pressure, we like to say 'chemistry happens,' " said Kathy-Lynn Evangelos, a civilian who works in Natick's Combat Feeding program. "Some things don't hold up well. Flavors and textures change. Eggs get rubbery. Fish degrades and loses quality."
Beef, pork and chicken are more reliable. "We don't have mystery meats," Evangelos said.
With all combat rations, Natick researchers must take into account long-term food safety and packaging. Then there is the issue of flavor. Once a year, researchers go into the field and soldiers score new dishes, which must receive a 6 or higher on a scale of 1 to 9 to make it onto the final menu.
Some foods, such as desserts, are commercially produced. A chocolate cappuccino cake served at the Pentagon and slated for combat feeding in 2009 was surprisingly good, compared with the entrees.
"It could be from Olive Garden. But I'm not saying it is," Evangelos said.
Joyce Ramona, an American Legion staff member, liked the new palm-size French toast pocket sandwich, made with shelf-stable bread and a maple-flavored filling.
"I got out six years ago," Ramona said. "I don't believe what they're serving. To go from franks and beans to a French toast pocket: I really like this."
Evangelos said the breakthrough to a good pocket meal came with ability to lower the pH of bakery goods for safe preservation.
Army Brig. Gen. Albert Bryant Jr., who is stationed at the Pentagon, said he was impressed by the new menu as he worked the buffet.
"What's different?" asked Bryant. "This has flavor. I'm not going to wolf this down. I'll take my time."