Foods that Historical Soldiers Ate

Roman Legionnaire: Roman legionnaires drank a beverage called Posca, made by mixing apple cider vinegar with water, and sometimes adding honey. They drank it every day, with all their meals or when they were thirsty. Originally flat, round breads made of spelt (a cereal grain closely related to wheat) with a bit of salt were eaten; in higher classes also eggs, cheese and honey, along with milk and fruit. In the imperial period, around the beginning of the Common Era, bread made of wheat was introduced and with time more and more baked products began to substitute for this spelt bread. Meat was a staple part of the soldiers diet. Analysis of bones from Roman forts show that beef and veal, mutton and lamb, pork and suckling pig, and also goat meat was also eaten.

All Romans were fond of fish sauces, especially Garum. However, this was expensive and legionnaires used a cheaper variety called Muria.

Incredibly, the Romans threw everything that could not be eaten (e.g. bones and shells) onto the floor, from where it was swept away by a slave. Sounds like one of those Texas BBQ bars in El Paso with the peanut shells and sawdust on the floor.

Ancient Samurai: Rice was a staple and considered a measure of wealth (Samurai's stipends were paid in rice). Rice cakes, wrapped in large leaves, were a popular roadside treat. Samurai ate husked rice, while nobles preferred polished rice. Though they grew rice, farmers generally ate millet.

In addition to rice, the following foods were eaten when and where available... Potatoes (there were reputedly 24 types), radishes (of which there were nine kinds), cucumbers (fourteen types), beans (which produced the ubiquitous bean curd), chestnuts, persimmons (another popular road side treat), various nuts, tofu, yams (or tororo, which was often made into a soup), sour plums (particularly popular with soldiers on campaign if they could be found), apricots, peaches, apples, oranges, etc. And horse meat. Horse meat was considered a delicacy, enjoyed after horses were killed in battle. All washed down with sake rice wine and served with steaming Yaki Soba noodles.

Civil War: The food issue, or ration, was usually meant to last three days while on active campaign and was based on the general staples of meat and bread. Meat usually came in the form of salted pork or, on rare occasions, fresh beef. Rations of pork or beef were boiled, broiled or fried over open campfires. Army bread was a flour biscuit called hardtack, re-named "tooth-dullers", "worm castles", and "sheet iron crackers" by the soldiers who ate them. Hardtack could be eaten plain though most men preferred to toast them over a fire, crumble them into soups, or crumble and fry them with their pork and bacon fat in a dish called skillygalee. Other food items included rice, peas, beans, dried fruit, potatoes, molasses, vinegar, and salt. Baked beans were a northern favorite when the time could be taken to prepare them and a cooking pot with a lid could be obtained. Coffee was a most desirable staple and some soldiers considered the issue of coffee and accompanying sugar more important than anything else. Yum. Wormy hard tack and black coffee. No wonder these guys were so tough. It certainly takes a tough guy to fight a 4 year war with 1 million casualties, one...bullet...at...a...time.

World War II G.I.: World War II vets "enjoyed" military issue C-rations, unaffectionately called "C-rats" by the hapless G.I.'s. Packed in cans and paper boxes, C-rats were painted camouflage green for the jungle soldier on the go. I have tried C-rats, and compare them to 3 for a dollar canned pork and beans and tinned Vienna sausage. Awful stuff. A typical C-rat lineup included:

There are three cans of food like:
eggs and ham,
pork and beans,
beef and beans.
There is one can with gum drop candy and two cookies.
There is dried coffee,
a tiny can of jam,
a bar of cocoa, and some dried cream.

Cigarettes, 4 smokes/pack
Winston, Marlboro, Salem, Pall Mall, Camel, Chesterfield, Kent, Lucky Strike, Kool
Matches, Moisture Resistant , Toilet Paper.

Plus smokes! An unsung, tobacco toting General once remarked it was a fundamental sin to send a G.I. into a foxhole under fire without a pack of Lucky Strikes. I like that way of thinking. Not the cigarette part, per se, just the way it was thought out. And Spam. Yes, Hormel Spam, made from the wily and elusive Spam animal. Legend has it that Nikita Khrushchev once claimed that Spam saved the Soviet Union from starvation. Imagine that.

Operation Desert Storm: Military rations had come a long way from C-rats by 1992. Standard issue rations now come in pre-packed plastic pouches, called "MRE's", or "Meals ready to eat" by some, and "Meals ready for Ethiopia" by a few snobbish and difficult to please others. I have eaten many, many MRE's myself, and find them quite tasty. Among the many eclectic flavors available:

Grilled Chicken Breast, Chicken w/Thai Sauce, Chicken w/Salsa, Beef Patty**
Minestrone Stew, White Rice, Mexican Rice, Nacho Cheese Pretzels,
Jelly, Shortbread Cookie
Wheat Snack Bread, Cheese Spread, (Jalapeno)
Fudge Brownie, Crackers (Vegetable), Wheat Snack Bread
Candy*** Raisin Nut Mix Candy*** BBQ Sauce
Cocoa Beverage Powder, Fruit Vanilla Cappuccino, Beverage Base,
Powdered Hot Sauce Tabasco Hot Sauce
Accessory Packet, spoon.

Some American commanders have even have gone so far as to contend that MRE's are too tasty. After all, this is war, right? War should taste like war.

It is of interest to note that the ancient Romans and Samurai ate better foods than modern day soldiers. Why? Romans and Samurai had plenty of time to set up camp, butcher animals, and process complex meals. Battles were often staged in advance like a football game, and they had time to spare. As war became mechanized and mobile, however, the battlefield could change drastically in a mere moment, and with the advent of the aircraft in WWI, soldiers rarely had the time to cook proper meals in the field, and required ready to eat rations instead.