The contemporary U.S. Army has a wide array of food products ready to them in base camps and in the field. There are a large estimate of Mres (which are admittedly quite tasty) and other transported foods ready to them when on missions and when stationed in hostile terrain. And when posted at an established base camp, the food that is prepared is also quite good. A large part of this is of course the ready availability of large quantities of any sort of food incredible in today's contemporary environment. In fact, today's soldiers have the best food ever made ready to a fighting force.
But it wasn't all the time that way.
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Take the Civil War. Civil War food kept the soldiers fed and not much else. Lets take a look at the diet that comprised the typical Civil War food ration. There were several issues that affected the food that was supplied to the Civil War soldiers. These comprise the club of the Commissary branch - which was tasked with the acquisition and distribution of food to the soldiers in the field, the season which determined if fresh food was ready or if it was preserved in some way and the capability of the food to stay good for long term storehouse and transportation.
Prior to the war, the attention of Commissaries was in the North so when the Civil War began, the North had a great advantage as they already had an existing Commissary branch that was already trained in how to obtain and transport food to soldiers in the field. Their job was to work with the troop numbers and schedules and keep a constant supply of foods going to each area where military were stationed so that the soldiers could keep on fighting without worrying about where their next meal would be coming from. It took the Confederacy several years to found a working Commissary so being a soldier of the South was more difficult. It required real dedication to be fighting when you didn't know where your next meal was coming from. Because of this lack of infrastructure, the South had to do a lot of foraging for food in the middle of battles until the supply lines were up and operational.
Civil War soldier food was typically very uncomplicated fare - often consisting of meat, coffee, sugar and hardtack - a type of dried biscuit. The meat was often salted or dried so it would last a bit longer and fruits and vegetables were rarities on the battlefield. Because the soldiers were often in the field, they needed to carry rations with them. They had a extra bag - called a haversack - which was made of canvas with an inner cloth bag that could be washed to get food debris cleaned out once in a while. But even with this design, the bags were often quite contaminated and foul smelling. Cleanliness was typically not high on the Civil War soldiers priority list.
Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers typically had a separate mix of rations. A Union soldier might have salt pork, fresh or salted beef, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruit and vegetables. And if it was in season, they might have fresh carrots, onions, turnips and potatoes. A Confederate soldier typically had bacon, corn meal, tea, sugar, molasses and the very occasional fresh vegetable.
The other difference in Civil War food in the middle of the Union and Confederate armies was the type of bread stock they had ready to them. Confederate soldiers had something called "Johnnie Cake" that they made in the field from cornmeal, milk and a few other ingredients. The Union soldiers had hardtack, also referred to as "tooth dullers" or "sheet iron crackers". Hardtack was man-made in large factories in the North and was a staple food for the Union soldiers. Hardtack got its name because it was often not used until months after it was made and during that time, it hardened rock solid which is how it got its nicknames.
As you can see, food has come a long way due to the coming of technologies that allow for better preservation of a wide variety of foods. Gone are the days of weevil infested hardtack. They have been supplanted with contemporary vacuum seal technologies that allow foods to stay fresh and tasty years after they have been packages. And since they say an army is run by its stomach, it is no surprise that the contemporary soldier is the best the world has ever seen.
Civil War Food - What Union and Confederate Soldiers Ate
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