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Note: Meetings are usually held on the second Sunday of each month, September through May, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Currently we are meeting via Zoom, but in-person meetings are held at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, Maryland, and occasionally at other venues. The meetings are open to anyone. However, certain meetings may require a fee.
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An Army Marches on its Somach: Military Field Rations from San Juan Hill to the Present — and Beyond
February 9, 2020 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
An Army Marches on Its Stomach
Military Field Rations from San Juan Hill to the Present—and Beyond
“An Army Marches on its Stomach”—this aphorism is often attributed to Napoleon, but also, in various paraphrases, to many other commanders leading large armies on major campaigns. How and what an army feeds its troops—and how those troops perceive the quality of their rations as an example and expression of their commanders’ priorities and concern—translates quickly into the troops’ morale and overall motivation and willingness to fight.
We will use three approaches:
• A brief look at basic dietary/caloric requirements of troops in various environments, in order to provide context and to suggest the challenges of feeding troops in the field.
• Advances in U.S. military field rations over the last century, from a baseline during the Spanish-American War (1898) and World War I
through World War II; from World War II to Vietnam; and the Gulf War (1990-1) through Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11.
• Some of the technical and culinary innovations—from the ingeniously simple to the more complex— that are now part of our culinary
landscape after their development for preparing and serving military rations.
• Questions and areas for future research.
If possible, using recipes from military cookbooks and recipes of the various periods, we will also sample some of the “hits and misses” from
military field rations over the last century, but especially during the last 50 years—possible samples include hardtack, “Slumgullion” (WW I), and MREs and HDRs (from the 1990-1 Gulf War and up to the present).
About the Presenter:
Michael McHenry has degrees in History and English Literature, Foreign Service (Middle Eastern Studies and Low-Intensity Conflict), and
National Security Strategy. He spent much of his career working security issues in the Middle East, to include supporting military forces and operations in the field. Michael is also a cook. He took classes at the Culinary Institute of America and assisted chef/instructors in cooking
classes in the Washington area. He is a member of CHoW and of La Chaine des Rotisseurs and a docent at the National Museum of American History.