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The power during the war is a truly exciting, on the that has been discussed little and thought less. In the first wars documented the armies despreocupaban fully of the power of his army, and were the combatants themselves who had to ensure their maintenance.
This fact led to anecdotes very curious since entire families who accompanied the troop, up to real supermarkets street -with hundreds of animals and tons of agricultural products – who followed the armies to the battle front.
In 1775 the Congress of the united States took action in the matter and gave food rations to the army as man and week, a whole innovation. During the american Civil War (1861-1865) was assigned a specific staff to prepare the meal and apportioned among the companies.
despite all these advances, it was not until 1902 when it appeared the first chefs in the military, and, that same year, the u.s. navy published a manual with a hundred recipes.
The next big jump occurred in the First World War, the trenches, the mud and the possible contamination with gas made it necessary that the soldiers aprovisionasen with canned food and dehydrated products. We know that in that contest, the u.s. military was distributing containers of one hundred pounds hermetically sealed and with food for a dozen men.
Unit of dinner for ration K – WikipediaDe the ration To the K
During the interwar period appeared the first diets military. The rations, made up of seventy percent for meats and vegetables and should be served hot; the portion B, very similar but with canned products; or the ration D, intended for the regiment of cavalry.
The ration D, unlike the previous ones, contained a serving of dark chocolate, peanut butter and sugar. Lastly, there was the ration C that provided a list of menus “varied”: meat with green beans, meat with stewed vegetables and meat with garnish of vegetables.
When the united States entered the Second World War, the War Department decided to renew the power of the military and, to that end, the advice of a nutritionist, who designed the well-known “ration K”.
The letter is the initial of the surname of the nutrition expert: Ancel Keys, an american who coined the term “mediterranean diet”. It was a character restless. During his youth he devoted himself to occupations more varied, from mining to merchant marine, through collector of bat guano.
later she graduated in political Science and economics, and only three years later did the same in zoology. His first doctorate was not long in coming and was in oceanography and marine biology. Not happy with this phd for the second time in physiology, from the University of Cambridge. In other words, Keys was not a physician.
Waste of sibaritismoUnidad dinner for ration K – Wikipedia
Your famous ration was composed of: two packets of biscuits, cigarettes, gum, sugar, instant coffee, and a key to open canned goods, which could be meat, eggs, fruit, cheese, lemon juice, orange or grape.
in Addition, it included matches, toilet paper, salt, chocolate, sweets, candies, and tablets to purify the water. As a curiosity, the last meal, in addition, contained a wooden spoon. On the whole, the ration K contributed about three thousand calories daily.
In the Normandy landings it was decided to give a touch of gourmet, and we developed a diet-specific cakes, ration K, chocolate ration D, soluble coffee, broth, dehydrated, candies, fruit bars, canned meat, and gum tables multi-vitamin. An exquisite cuisine, which certainly was the delight of the stomachs that are more demanding.
M. Jara
Pedro Gargantilla is a internist in the Hospital of El Escorial (Madrid), and author of several popular books.