Military Culinary Question

[Jester]

This occurred to me while watching a show tonight. I won't bother going into details, as they don't really matter, but something that happened on it made me wonder:

How many military personnel are vegetarians? And do they have trouble getting vegetarian meals? I know my friends who have been in the military have described some of the food to me, and it seems to be a lot of meat and starch.

Just wondering, though I am neither vegetarian nor military.

[AccountingDrone]

[warning PDF] Military Recipe Cards in many cases are not your friend ...

In the Navy, in the submarine service it sucks ass to be a vegetarian or try to do anything funky dietarily. The recourse to any meal that you do not like or contains allergens is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I kid you not. Surface ship and land based has better food options, but underwater you are hosed.

This is one reason that they frequently disqualify people with food allergies and dietary requirements that are too out of whack.

[Sandman]

Dang.. those recipe cards show no love to the CG!

Just the four branches... maybe that's because the CG has all their food catered!

[Shards]

The Marine Corps aren't technically a branch, just a division of the Navy.

[Nurian]

Actually, there were a few when I was in. We had to make sure there were plenty of entrees so people could choose. Even in the field, they make vegetarian MREs. They tend to taste better than the regular ones!

[trailerparkmedic]

I used to steal all the vegetarian MREs because they were so much better!

I didn't know any vegetarians, but my group of people was all about trying to be extra bad ass.

[42_42_42]

I have a feeling that (other than for kosher, I would guess) the providing for alternative diets in the military is a relatively new thing. This is based soley on my dad's stories from being in the Navy in the 70s though.

[Plaidman]

I always wanted to try a MRE.

But I stick with the old WW2 Japanese MRE's. Everyone loves those. Not a soul on this planet who hasn't had them. So delicious.

[trailerparkmedic]

I always wanted to try a MRE.

FEMA gives them out after disasters. So, you could hang out in a hurricane prone area and wait. Or you could try Ebay. Just don't put the heater and some water in a plastic bottle if you're not trying to cause trouble...

[Jester]

I always wanted to try a MRE.

I had one once when my roommate who was in the Army Reserve brought one home. Some kind of beef, I think. Not overly tasty, though I have had worse. School cafeterias come to mind.

I got a couple of the Red Cross's version a few years ago after Hurricane Wilma. Interesting. About the quality of a tv dinner.

Never had the Japanese WWII ones that you talked about. Not even sure what they are.

[Plaidman]

Never had the Japanese WWII ones that you talked about. Not even sure what they are.

I remember reading a strange facts, though only after I posted that did I bother reading up more, and was wrong. At the time I posted it, I remember reading that WW2 was when Instant Noodles, (Top ramen) was made.

However that has been proven false, as instant noddles was made like 15 years after WW2.

Though I still I swore reading that they were originaly made for Japanese Soldiers.

[Rine]

I like the spaghetti MREs and we had a few veggie ones too. But I'm not huge fan of them since that's all I had to eat for three or four days after a hurricane, along with whatever else we rationed. Bleh.