What Did WW2 Soldiers Eat | US Military Food Rations | Documentary | ca. 1943

I guess a man when do we eat won't you hurry all you get renown Athene's army food is no longer a matter of beans and guesswork since the last war nutrition has become a science and our army quartermaster Corps uses that science in planning army meals food correctly used means fighting strength for our soldiers and better health for civilians scientists said food plants at universities and at the quartermaster caused own subsistence laboratories in Chicago study food for energy the food weapons of our enemies are investigated the Japanese are supposed to produce great fighting energy out of a handful of rice this is the amount of rice one of our soldiers would have to eat to approach the energy in his own ration the Nazis are supposed to have a Superman vitamin pill the pill story is checked by dr. Ansell keys and his staff at the University of Minnesota vitamins and pill do not helpful wait but vitamins do help the body use food only after eating actual food can a soldier pull more weight or push a bayonet harder to discover what foods contain the right vitamins for fighting in various parts of the world experiments are conducted in rooms where any climate can be imitated Holy Smoke you got it lift the hair a death in this heat different foods are on what's lost in perspiration is measured the answer to the vitamin question is not pill but good food in plenty of variety according to dr. keys vitamins were missing from his food soldier might have stay concentrated vitamins if he had vitamins but no food he was still star best way naturally is try vitamins in the food it is for this reason that the army uses only vitamin enriched flour in its bread no better measure of take a couple of hours cobble them a play and bake your bread the quartermaster Corps believes in supplying our men everywhere with an abundant variety of fresh food of the kind they like cooked the way they like it in this country the job is comparatively simple all army cooks follow a standard menu prepared by nutritionists in Washington vegetables and fruits milk and eggs are centrally purchased in vast quantities by army officers and civilian experts the pick of the country's fresh meat is born nearly a pound a day for a soldier the job of supply gets more difficult as a million men go oversea for the quartermaster Corps faces the problem of shipping space so meat is debone saving 60% invoke still more space is safe through dehydration a greater variety of food can now be shipped in this form only the water in them is removed to be replaced before cooking thus one ship can carry the load of ten for dehydration every egg is examined the yolks are separated from the whites and put through a drive our soldiers on the other side of the world will be provided with breakfast omelets made of this pure yolk of vegetables such as beets go through a new process which preserves color taste and vitamin content while these amazing developments in food processing are now used principally for the army millions of civilians will be benefited after the war for in the future no household need be without vitamin rich vegetables and fruits at any time dehydrated food is easy to keep the quartermaster Corps laboratory has established this in exhaustive tests only water knead the air when cooked it is often impossible to detect the difference in taste and constant tests show practically no difference in vitamin content between the dehydrated and the untreated product when a soldier is out in the field and away from Camp cooks he must carry his own ration precooked meats for emergency rations were developed in the army laboratory for this purpose here too emphasis is put on taste as well as on the food value of the ration which consists of a can of meat for each meal and the second unit containing concentrated soup partek coffee powder and ken total weight three and a half pounds four three square meals a day but specialized troops in mobile warfare need a still more compact ration so the Army has developed the now-famous K ration the completely streamlined meal originally designed for paratroops k proved ideal for tank Buster's commandos and all isolated units each package contains a balanced vitamin-rich meal a day's ration weighs about two pounds K was developed under colonel roland a Isco the object of the K ration list provide the soldier with food under emergency this ration was it's variations therefore adapted to all climatic conditions from atomic and the frigid zone each item in K had to be super nutritious but also appetite so each item was tested by Colonel eskas guinea pig lunch Guam several recipes for instance were tried in picking a soybean biscuit this biscuit seemed to meet specifications pretty tasty mister you baked this biscuit on existing equipment with your adjustment how much soy is there in these about one part in seven good eating thus we find ways to use such highly nourishing staples as the soybean which is easily produced in great Plenty the energies in this and other hitherto inefficiently use foods are unlocked for the world by Kenneth such as dr. Julian of Illinois a famous soy expert soy flour strengthens wheat flour eggs Lord in the K ration breakfast biscuit with this and other items in cave we are in the possession of new foods new methods of preparation which make mankind independent of distance and climate these war foods are also bulwarks against famine and catastrophe to produce them we have a new industry when the army asked its suppliers to build this packaged food industry overnight they didn't know they were getting K ready for Africa a chewing gum company flung together a package assembly line out of bicycle chain this company it tends to make a a package mill business when peace comes millions of K rations each container has a tinted meat or cheese the soy and other biscuits they concentrated chocolate bar fruit bar or dextrose candies coffee lemon or soup powder instantly soluble in cold or hot water cigarettes and that American nerve tonic chewing gum and this amazing package requires no strategic material tests such as the bubble test sometimes uncover imperfections for K cartons must be air and water tight gas proof and see worth with science at his service and the greatest food producing country in the world backing him up the American soldier no matter where he may be in the jungle the Arctic the desert or in his home camp can rightly consider himself the best fed soldier in the world and in the future the war war knowledge that has made himself when spread over the world can guarantee that no one on earth needs suffer from malnutrition or from hunger

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Id: YueiTnSl_Bo

Length: 9min 51sec (591 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 23 2016