Combat Food: New Foods and Combat Rations

World War II marked major departures in the feeding of troops; special food packs became available for specific situations, and there was a much wider variety of food and a new concern for quality; a concerted attempt was made to go beyond just feeding the troops to feeding them well. Thousands of soldiers were trained as cooks—more than fifty thousand officers and men came out of the army’s cooking and baking schools in 1943 alone—and much attention was given to recipes, menus, and even garnishes. The intent was well expressed in the opening to Training Manual 10–405, The Army Cook, published during the war:

There is no limit to what can be done to improve a mess by thought and care and seasoning, attractive serving, and inventing new combinations and mixtures of foods. The pleasant task of cooking becomes doubly interesting to the cook who is not satisfied with merely cooking well, but takes advantage of every opportunity of finding new and pleasant ways to prepare food. To him cooking is not just a task—it is a pleasure. (Dickson, 1978)