SOME MILITARY MENUS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4818, 2 August 1939, Page 2

SOME MILITARY MENUS

ENGLAND'S ARMY IS THE BEST FED. COMPARISONS IN EUROPE. If present-day armies are more apt to be whisked about by motor convoy, the old saying that they march on their stomachs still holds good; neglect the nourishment of men earmarked for the nerve-racking ordeal of modern battle, and they will crack the sooner, should the test come, writes Ferdinand Tuohy in "The Daily Mail," London. That this has been acted upon by the general staffs of Europes' six chief Powers is evident. In the allround "drive" to better the soldier's lot maximum attention has been paid to 'eats." The peace front countries serve up the lustier fare. Let's begin with the French Army. It went into the Great War still eating the stew, or "rata," which angered Napoleon, and consisted of eternal "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. Hore d'oeuvre, rice pilaffs succulently sauced (sauces are a speciality), chipped potatoes, figure prominently, together with perenially popular regional dishes such as Choucroute Garnie (hot dogs, ham, boiled potatoes, 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 rarely 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 kacha, a meal dish. Beet soup, akin to Russian bortsch, makes a regular appearance, as does cabbage done in the Polish way. Potatoes are exten-

dvely served, and rye bread. Noodles ind macaroni are further standbyes. Russian rationing resembles the Polish, except that there is more meat and that Crimean wine is included. But the 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 salad. 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 suprising in view of the shortage and the substitues in the Reich. Yet the best available is reserved there for the fighting men. A German soldier receives:— Breakfast.—iUb pure rye bread, h pint coffee (mixture) or tea, loz butter or margarine, or .ilb marmalade. Dinner.—lib bread, i pint soup (with vermicelli, macaroni, cabbage, turnips), 6oz boneless meat or 12oz fish fillets, loz fat (lard or butter), 21b potatoes, seasonable vegetables. Supper.—lib bread,- I pint coffee (mixture), or tea, loz sugar, ljoz 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 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 ljlb of bread in two large hunks daily, and may eat it when he likes. Here is a typical day's menus:—

7a.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 leaves, potatoes, lettuce). No, perhaps after all, the British is the best fed army.