Can meat unify an army? This question proved to be yes during the second world war when over 150 million pounds of spam had been shipped and served sometimes three times a day by the US military. As Bruce Heydt puts it, "they had shared the danger of combat and the ever-present threat of more Spam." Spam consists of pork shoulder, ham, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite and was introduced into the war for it's affordability, long self-life, and easily transportable. A can of spam provided around 1054 calories and 44 grams of protein, giving a soldier a meal with little hassle, minimal cost, and lots of energy to protect their country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food)). Along with its practical use, Spam also provided soldiers with a lot of laughter as well, lighting up the war scene. Referred to as "mystery meat", Spam to this day remains part of urban legends and jokes.
Although you may think that astronauts don't expend a lot of energy sitting in a shuttle up in space, they do and the food they eat has to not only provided a balanced nutrition but also be easy and safe to store, prepare, and consume in space with limited tools. Americans have continued to innovate and create new foods that are easy and accessible and the most extreme example of this is space food. In earlier space missions, like the Project Mercury (1959-1963), Astronauts were having to try and eat weightless food, squeeze their food from tubes, and eat their food from freeze-dried powder forms. Obviously they found this very unappetizing and improvements quickly came. Foods and drinks started to fly up dehydrated and the only thing astronauts had to do was add water and they can enjoy up to 70 different meal options. One of the most interesting inventions was food in cube form. In fact, the first food that was eaten on the moon was a bacon cube. The comfort of astronauts who are far, far away from home is made better with better food and enhances their ability to do their job.
Food has a bigger impact on our lives than we realize and a big factor of American success compared to others in the world has been because of how we have feed our American heroes. In order to preform the best they can, American heroes, like soldiers and astronauts, need energy and food that not only sustains them but can adapt well to their environments.
I love your topic! I hadn't really thought of the US's prime role in creating food for the people who fight our wars and explore new frontiers. It got me thinking about the new energy bar craze, and yes! That was an American invention as well. According to wikipedia, the first "energy bar" was created for Astronauts by the Pillsbury Co. and were called Space Food Sticks! I guess they're still around?!
ReplyDeleteWow. What a lovely read. You mentioned food that the soldiers got back in the day; has the soldier diet changed significantly since then?
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting topic. The food options you're talking about even went further to create easily transportable rations for hikers and campers. I like how you tied in the astronauts in as well, seeing as how the us was also a pioneer in space, behind the scenes they were pioneering more things than just the ships.
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