It's a quote attributed to two of the most iconic military leaders of the previous millennium: Fredrick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.
As these military leaders expanded their respective empires, they understood that feeding their troops with the logistical challenges of obtaining, storing, transporting and distributing provisions was a deciding factor in winning or losing a war. And the larger the army, and the more widespread their dispersal, the bigger the challenges.
Foraging, looting and pillaging when in enemy territory wasn't a reliable solution as scorched-earth tactics were not only used by invaders. History is replete with tales of defenders taking the drastic action of destroying their food supplies by burning crops and slaughtering livestock. Basically, employing any and every tactic to deny nourishment to their attackers.
For instance, during the Viking invasion of Britain in 893, the Norsemen occupied the northwest city of Chester. However, after the defenders destroyed their food supplies and successfully starved the Vikings, the invaders hastily retreated from the region.
A more well-known example is that of the French invasion of Russia in 1812. As the defending troops retreated before Napoleon's 500 000-strong Le Grand Armée, they burned virtually every last bushel of barley, rye and wheat, which led to a disastrous defeat for Boneparte.
Blood and guts
As has been thoroughly documented, the warriors of ancient Sparta's hyper militarised state ate the same basic dish, day in and day out. And it could hardly be described as a culinary delight. Pork leg meat boiled in pig's blood, seasoned with salt and vinegar, and accompanied with barley bread.
Now, it may not be a candidate for a Michelin star restaurant's tasting menu, but it did deliver nutritional value. It was high in protein, amino acids, and B vitamins, which aid in releasing energy from carbohydrates.
Fast forward and shift westwards towards Rome. The empire's legionnaires ate surprisingly well. Like all things Roman, logistics were usually well organised, and the good Roman roads stretching the length and breadth of the empire made transportation more accessible.
A Roman soldier's daily rations consisted of 450 grammes (1lb) of salted pork or bacon, the mainstay of their diet, augmented with up to 1.5 kg (3lbs) of grain such as wheat, barley, rye, spelt or semolina. Grains were usually baked as bread or mashed up into a porridge mixed with lard, butter or milk.
During frugal times, troops' wages were partially paid in salt, which was referred to as 'salarium' - the origin of the word 'salary'. Salt was a precious commodity throughout the Roman empire, and troops used their ration to barter for vegetables, fruit, cheese and fresh meat such as mutton, goat, venison, hare, wild boar, and snails.
Horse meat, from mounts that had outlived their usefulness, was sometimes on the menu. Beef, however, was a rarity. Cows were only bred for milk, while oxen were worked arduously as draught animals until long into old age. So, Roman beef tended to be as tough as a legionnaire's scuntum – the wood, leather and metal shield.
A condiment that was favoured amongst Romans of all social classes – almost bordering on addiction – was garum, a fish sauce made from the fermented intestines of mackerel or tuna, plus smaller species such as anchovies, sardines and sprats. Fermenting in brine for up to three months was enough time for the fish guts to decay and become liquified so that the sauce could be filtered and bottled.
Garum came in various grades of quality, and a bottle of the most expensive variety has been estimated to have cost the equivalent of $500 in today's money. A more affordable option for the lower ranks was the solid residue that lay at the bottom of a garum barrel, a paste called muria.
Garum, like many things Roman, was borrowed from the Greeks. And although the Roman recipe is no longer commercially produced, its closest modern equivalent is the fish sauce found throughout south-east Asia. Garum is also considered a distant ancestor for today's anchovies-based Worcestershire sauce.
To quench their thirst, the lower ranks drank posca, a concoction comprising watered down red wine vinegar, salt and herbs such as cumin, fennel seeds, anise or thyme. The higher rank drank sweet white wine, diluted one part wine to two parts water. And beer and ale were frowned upon as the beverage of barbarians, the Germanic and Celtic enemy hordes.
Taste Invaders
After the Roman empire's collapse in 793, the next successful invasion force to conquer much of Europe between the eighth and the eleventh centuries was the Norsemen of Scandinavia, commonly known as Vikings.
Although ruthless and much-feared warriors, the Vikings were also traders, craftsmen, farmers, and fishers. And it is the latter skill that led them to become master boat builders and seafarers that enabled their invasions and migrations.
The territories they migrated to, both in peace and in war, included most of northern Europe, parts of Russia, North Africa and the Middle East. It also stretched across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, which are today combined as a province of Canada.
At home, the Vikings ate a surprisingly healthy diet that included a wide variety of both domesticated and hunted meat. The meat, usually boiled or stewed, was called skuse, which has to be the genesis of the traditional stew associated with Liverpool and north Wales known as lobscouse
The one part of the Viking diet that allowed them to attempt long sea voyages in their keeled longboats was dried fish, which was mainly cod and haddock. Without this light, portable, durable and nutritious food source, it's debatable that the Vikings would have been able to venture as far as they did.
The wild east
During the 13th and 14th centuries, the mounted Mongol cavalry of the Great Khans subsisted mainly on a diet of dried milk curd called kurut, plus cheese, yoghurt, butter and, occasionally, fresh and cured horse meat.
Being nomadic, Mongols never stayed in one spot too long, so growing fresh fruit and vegetables was not an option.
Living on the steppes gave them access to a plentiful supply of rodents such as marmots and jerboa, plus rabbits and dogs, which supplemented their usual diet.
Fermented mare's milk, called airag or kumis, was a favoured alcoholic beverage treasured by Mongol warriors, which they often consumed in huge quantities. Regarded as a cultural treasure by Mongolians, airag is still enjoyed today.
As the Mogul empire expanded, it eventually covered China, Persia, the middle east, and eastern Europe right up to the gates of Vienna. In total, an area that spanned one-fifth of the surface of the earth. As it progressed, the Mongol diet constantly changed as the invaders were exposed to new cultures and new cusines.
The story that Mongol warriors used their iron shields as upside-down woks to flash-fry meat is believed to have been a myth perpetuated to promote Mongolian barbecue restaurants that were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Restaurants that specialised in cuisine that was unknown in Mongolia!
During China's Ming Dynasty, which lasted from the mid-14th to the mid-17th century, the standing army grew from 1.2 million troops to 4.0. Feeding them was achieved through a sophisticated logistical capability achieved by the centralised government and military administration.
Rice and millet were staples as they were easy to transport and quick to prepare. Fresh meat was a rarity reserved for pre-battle morale-boosting feasts or post-battle rewards for victories. Cured meat and fish were also part of the diet, with brining, salting, pickling, and smoking being the most common methods of preserving the protein source that could last for several months.
Fresh vegetables were rare, and troops would eat pickled vegetables such as cucumber and Chinese cabbage. Tea was liberally distributed, but alcohol was strictly forbidden.
Rations worth their salt
The food commodity that sustained the European military throughout the Middle Ages was dried, salted or pickled meat, usually beef or pork. Dried beans and peas were integral to the English military rations as pease pudding, or pease pottage, was the staple before potatoes were introduced. And, obviously, wheat, barley and rye for bread and porridge were universal. When on military campaigns, soldiers were encouraged to forage and pillage for whatever they could find in the area.
Throughout the middle ages, a new source of protein, mainly sourced from Norway and the Faroe Islands, became common in northern Europe. Dried cod, otherwise know as stockfish, was cheap, easily transportable and nutritious.
However, in 1497 there was a game-changer. Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot, to use his anglicised name, led England's first exploration of the New World. Newfoundland was (re)-discovered. And with the island being close to the Grand Bank, the Atlantic Ocean's richest supply of cod was also located.
However, because of the wet conditions of Newfoundland, drying was not a practical option to preserve the fish. Salting the cod before hanging it out to dry was the answer.
Thanks to the enormous reserves of cod, and the salting technique, Newfoundland became the world's biggest exporter of what would become Europe’s most affordable source of protein for the next four hundred years, and an early version of a superfood.
The method of salting cod, a fish that could measure up to 1.2 metres (almost four feet) in length and weigh up to 40kgs (88lbs), was straightforward. First, the fish would be split open, gutted, and the backbone removed. The fillets would then be layered in salt to reduce the moisture by around 60%. An average of 12kgs of salt (just over 26lbs) was sufficient to cure 45kgs (100lbs) of fish.
Salt cod, known as bacculah in Portugal and Brazil, and bacalao in Spain, is still considered a favoured delicacy in these countries. As they are all maritime nations and vast consumers of fresh fish, it is a solid testament to the quality and the taste of rehydrated salted cod that it should be so popular.
The Portuguese fondness for salt cod was captured in an old saying that no young woman should marry until she mastered 365 baccilah recipes!
When rations were all at sea
The rations of those who served on British Royal Navy ships were predetermined by none other than the celebrated 17th century English diarist, Samuel Pepys. In 1667, Pepys held the senior post of Secretary of the Navy and was responsible for a document that decreed the quality and quantity of sailors' rations.
Pepys was undoubtedly generous. He proposed a weekly diet that consisted of 2 kgs (4.4 lbs) of salted beef and a little less than 1kg (2lbs) of salted pork. In addition, the rations included just under one litre (two pints) of dried peas, 170 grams (six ounces) of butter, up to 340 grams (12 ounces) of cheese, and 2.2kgs (5lbs) of ships biscuits. And in what was sure to be a morale booster, 3.8 litres (a gallon) of beer every day! Mind you, the beer would have been a much safer bet than drinking the ship's water, which was likely to be contaminated with pathogens.
The biggest problem for all navies that engaged in long voyages was scurvy. A fatal disease in its later stages due to a chronic deficiency of vitamin C caused by the lack of fresh vegetables and fruit.
The symptoms of scurvy are lethargy, weakness and depression. Also, severe joint and leg pain, easy bruising, swollen and bleeding gums, sometimes to the extent that teeth fall out, and red or blue spots on the shins.
From when Pepys published his report, eradicating scurvy took another two hundred years. By 1867, the Merchant Shipping Act decreed that all Royal and Merchant Navy vessels had to provide a daily ration of lemon or lime juice to each sailor.
The Act was the result of experiments made at sea by a Royal Navy surgeon called James Lind who discovered that fresh citrus fruit countered the debilitating effects of scurvy.
The logistics of distributing the remedy were made more accessible for the authorities when a Scottish ship chandler called Lauchlan Rose patented a method of preserving the vitamin C in lime juice. Today, that preparation is still widely available (and a firm favourite in my home): Rose's Lime Juice!
Birth of the Rat Pack
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, military rations in Europe and North America generally remained the same. Weevil and maggot-ridden hardtack biscuits, salted pork, beef or cod, with few fresh vegetables or fruit, other than what could have been foraged or pillaged.
And more often than not, troops were handed the raw ingredients and expected to cook the food themselves. This was the case for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the US Civil War. The only additions to their rations were coffee beans, sugar, molasses and dehydrated vegetables; a mush of root vegetables, legumes, and greens mixed with flour and water, then laid out to dry in the sun before being pressed into cubes.
This period was no different to previous times when more soldiers died of disease caused by nutritional depletion than perished in active combat.
After World War One, when British army rations distributed to those in the trenches were considered inedible, things slowly began to change.
By World War Two, the rations supplied to US troops were considered the most nutritious during that time. C-Rations packs distributed to combat troops included canned meat and beans, canned fruit, instant coffee, and chocolate.
K-Rations, which were more compact, contained a day’s supply of meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each pack had four ounces of meat or congealed powdered eggs with small pieces of ham, cheese spread, crackers, chocolate, chewing gum, salt tablets and a sugary drink.
The quality of K-rations was continuously improved throughout the war. And by the time the Axis powers collapsed, the final version contained a calorific value of 11,800 kJ (2,830 kilocalories). Compared to today's US dietary guidelines, this is what’s recommended for moderately active males between 19 and 50 years old.
World War Two rations issued to British soldiers consisted of canned bully beef, or canned meat and vegetables, biscuits, jam, sugar, condensed milk and tea. And if they were fortunate, a small bar of chocolate.
As the image of the Aussie Digger eating from a can of Bully Beef at the beginning of this article shows, enthusiasm for Bully Beef day in and day out was not great. And I can attest to that from the experiences of my late father. So, kindly indulge me for a moment while I get personal.
My father, who served in the Royal Engineers throughout World War Two, soon came to detest his daily ration of bully beef.
In the war's final weeks, he was in a platoon of six British Tommies ordered to guard a small, remote village deep in the Austrian Alps.
The quartermaster tasked with supplying the platooon with six-weeks worth of rations misread the written orders given to him. Instead of catering for six troops, he delivered bully beef rations for 16 men.
Suddenly, the platoon had some valuable currency, which they used to barter for just about anything with the local population, who were grateful to eat the canned meat.
So, for the last few weeks of the war, Dad and his mates slept in proper sheets on good beds at a small guesthouse. They drank good beer at the village pub. They ate simple but delicious home-cooked Austrian food. And much to my father's delight, there wasn't a can of bully beef in sight!
Ever since the early 1960s, the US Department of Defense has taken much greater care in feeding its combat troops. It was at this time they developed MRE – Meal Ready to Eat.
Still the US Armed Forces’ primary rations, the instant meals on offer are either processed, freeze-dried or canned. They also have to serve several purposes. First they must contain the calorific value required for people expending enormous amounts of energy. Second, they need to be nutritious and wholesome. Third, they must be light and easy to carry. And fourth, they need to boost morale through food that’s tasty and US MRE packs that incude sweet treats such as desserts, candy and chocolate bars.
The French MRE packs are as close to fine dining as you cvan possible get. The entrées include duck and potatoes, pork cheeks with ravioli, tuna in coconut milk and Strasbourg sausage in a spicy sauce with rice. And all are accompanied with a cold salad, and a side order such as pâté, terrines, soups and biscuits.
The British Armed Forces supply a three-meal 24 Hour ration pack which provides 16 736 kilojoules (4000 Kcal). Over and above three ready-to-eat main dishes, it also contains high energy snacks and electrolyte drinks.
In researching for this article and looking at the rations provided by armies worldwide, it was pretty interesting to see that not one country has opted for pork leg meat boiled in pig's blood. Wonder why?
I’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to leaave a comment.
Interesting read
Very interesting article!!!!!