SOME MILITARY MENUS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 258, 29 July 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

SOME MILITARY MENUS

England’s Army Is The Best Fed

If present-day armies are more apt to be whisked about by motor convoy, the old saying that they march on their siomachs still holds good ; neglect the nourishment of men ear-marked for the nerve-racking ordeal of modern battle, and they will crack the sooner, the test come, writes Ferdinand Tuoh> in "The Daily Mail,” London.

That this has been acted upon by the general staffs of Europe’s six chief Powers is evident In the all-round “drive" to better the soldier’s lot maximum attention has been paid to “eats.” The peace front countries serve up the lustier fare.

Lets begin with the French Army. It went into the Great War still eating the siew, or “rata,” which angered Napoleon, and consisted of eternal boiled “beef” and haricot beans. Excellent coffee with milk, bread with sausage or pate, begin each day now. Meals are a four-course affair corresponding to an 11 or 13 francs restaurant menu. Hors d’oeuvre, rice pilaffs succulently sauced (sauces are a speciality), chipped potatoes, figure prominently, together with perennially popular regional dishes such as Choucront« Garnie (hot dogs, ham, boiled and white-heart cabbage) and Tripe in the Manner of Caen. Poultry is far from unknown.

A red wine ration of nearly half a bottle a meal seldom goes undrunk. In cold weather it may be heated. Beer is served on Choucroute days. The Polish Army has a vegetarian leaning. The basis of its rationing is kachfj, a meal dish. Beet soup, akin to Russian bortsch, makes a regular appearance, as does cabbage done in the Polish way. Potatoes are extensively served, and rye bread. Noodles and macaroni are further standbyes. Russian rationing resembles the Polish, except that there is more meat and that Crimean wine is included. But tlie thirst-quencher remains the samovar, helped out by a weak beer.

As for Britain’s own army menus—even to read them gave me an appetite. ' Breakfast.—Porridge, sausages and bacon, tea, bread, butter, marmalade. Lunch.—Boiled mutton and caper sauce or Lancashire hot-pot, boiled potatoes, carrots and turnips, baked jam roll or apricots and junket. Tea—Tea, bread, butter, jam, ginger cake.

Supper.—Cocoa, bread, butter, brisket of beef, sauce and salad. Touring Lithuanian staff officers consider ours the best-fed army, their own next. Our food “is more nourishing than the German,” not surprising in view of the shortage and the substitutes in the Reich. Yet the best available is reserved there for the fighting men.

A German soldier receives: — Breakfast —Jib. pure rye bread, J pint coffee (mixture) or tea, loz. butter or margarine, or ilb. marmalade. Dinner.—Jib. of bread, J pint soup (with vermicelli, macaroni, cabbage, turnips), 6oz. boneless meat or 12oz. fish fillets, Joz. fat (lard or butter), 21b. potatoes, seasonable vegetables. ' Supper.—Jib. bread, J pint coffee (mixture) or tea, loz. sugar, IJoz. butter or margarine. 9oz. fresh sausages. Once a week potatoes are served in their jackets. Light beer is ration issue. The mainstay is the potato—one stone’s weight a week a man, and more if he wants it. At the other end of the Axis it is not exclusively a case of bread and cheese, pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, etc.), and wine, as one often hears. Italian soldiers receive IJlb. of bread in two large hunks daily, and may ear it when they like. Here is a typical day’s menus:— 7 a.m.: “Coffee” and milk, bread. 10.30 a.m.: Soup with verdura (greens), meat in the soup, bread. 5 p.m.: Pasta and rice, verdura again (mostly green beans, potatoes lettuce). No, perhaps after all, the British is the best-fed army.