Combat-ready KitchenCombat-ready Kitchen
How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat
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Book, 2015
Current format, Book, 2015, , All copies in use.Book, 2015
Current format, Book, 2015, , All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsWhat is the effect of such a diet, eaten-as it isby soldiers and most consumers-day in and day out,year after year? We don''t really know. We''re the guineapigs in a giant public health experiment, one in whichscience and technology, at the beck and call of the military,have taken over our kitchens.
In a nondescript Boston suburb, in a handful of lowbuildings buffered by trees and a lake, a group of menand women spend their days researching, testing, tasting,and producing the foods that form the bedrock ofthe American diet. If you stumbled into the facility, youmight think the technicians dressed in lab coats andthe shiny kitchen equipment belonged to one of thegiant food conglomerates responsible for your favoritebrand of frozen pizza or microwavable breakfast burritos.So you''d be surprised to learn that you''ve justentered the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center,ground zero for the processed food industry.
Ever since Napoleon, armies have sought betterways to preserve, store, and transport food for battle.As part of this quest, although most people don''t realizeit, the U.S. military spearheaded the invention ofenergy bars, restructured meat, extended-life bread,instant coffee, and much more. But there''s been aninsidious mission creep- because the military enlistedindustry-huge corporations such as ADM, ConAgra,General Mills, Hershey, Hormel, Mars, Nabisco,Reynolds, Smithfield, Swift, Tyson, and Unilever-tohelp develop and manufacture food for soldiers on thefront line, over the years combat rations, or the keytechnologies used in engineering them, have endedup dominating grocery store shelves and refrigeratorcases. TV dinners, the cheese powder in snack foods,cling wrap . . . The list is almost endless.
Now food writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedoscrutinizes the world of processed food and its longrelationship with the military-unveiling the twists,turns, successes, failures, and products that have foundtheir way from the armed forces'' and contractors'' laboratoriesinto our kitchens. In developing these rations,the army was looking for some of the very same qualitiesas we do in our hectic, fast-paced twenty-first-centurylives- portability, ease of preparation, extended shelf lifeat room temperature, affordability, and appeal to eventhe least adventurous eaters. In other words, the militaryhas us chowing down like special ops.
What is the effect of such a diet, eaten-as it isby soldiers and most consumers-day in and day out,year after year? We don''t really know. We''re the guineapigs in a giant public health experiment, one in whichscience and technology, at the beck and call of the military,have taken over our kitchens.
''A well-researched effort that will undoubtedly add to general readers'' knowledge about the food they consume on a daily basis.'' Kirkus Reviews
'' Combat-Ready Kitchen reveals in abundant detail how military necessityhas spawned food-technological invention and many of the processed foodsthat crowd our supermarket and kitchen shelves.'' Harold McGee, author of On Food & Cooking and Keys to Good Cooking
''A fascinating book that will make us reconsider the origins of modernindustrial food. Who could have guessed that so many of our commonconveniences were first developed for war? This book will make an enormousimpact in the field of food history.'' Ken Albala, director of food studies, University of the Pacific
''This is an excellent book on an important subject that readers will findfascinating for its relevance to their everyday lives and health. It also makesan important contribution to military history with its analysis of field rationsfrom antiquity to the present. With Combat-Ready Kitchen, which is wellwritten in an enjoyable style and exhaustively researched, Marx de Salcedohas done the American public a great service in bringing this importantsubject to our attention. Highly recommended.'' Richard A. Gabriel, historian; author of The Madness of Alexanderthe Great- And the Myth of Military Genius
In a nondescript Boston suburb, in a handful of lowbuildings buffered by trees and a lake, a group of menand women spend their days researching, testing, tasting,and producing the foods that form the bedrock ofthe American diet. If you stumbled into the facility, youmight think the technicians dressed in lab coats andthe shiny kitchen equipment belonged to one of thegiant food conglomerates responsible for your favoritebrand of frozen pizza or microwavable breakfast burritos.So you''d be surprised to learn that you''ve justentered the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center,ground zero for the processed food industry.
Ever since Napoleon, armies have sought betterways to preserve, store, and transport food for battle.As part of this quest, although most people don''t realizeit, the U.S. military spearheaded the invention ofenergy bars, restructured meat, extended-life bread,instant coffee, and much more. But there''s been aninsidious mission creep- because the military enlistedindustry-huge corporations such as ADM, ConAgra,General Mills, Hershey, Hormel, Mars, Nabisco,Reynolds, Smithfield, Swift, Tyson, and Unilever-tohelp develop and manufacture food for soldiers on thefront line, over the years combat rations, or the keytechnologies used in engineering them, have endedup dominating grocery store shelves and refrigeratorcases. TV dinners, the cheese powder in snack foods,cling wrap . . . The list is almost endless.
Now food writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedoscrutinizes the world of processed food and its longrelationship with the military-unveiling the twists,turns, successes, failures, and products that have foundtheir way from the armed forces'' and contractors'' laboratoriesinto our kitchens. In developing these rations,the army was looking for some of the very same qualitiesas we do in our hectic, fast-paced twenty-first-centurylives- portability, ease of preparation, extended shelf lifeat room temperature, affordability, and appeal to eventhe least adventurous eaters. In other words, the militaryhas us chowing down like special ops.
What is the effect of such a diet, eaten-as it isby soldiers and most consumers-day in and day out,year after year? We don''t really know. We''re the guineapigs in a giant public health experiment, one in whichscience and technology, at the beck and call of the military,have taken over our kitchens.
''A well-researched effort that will undoubtedly add to general readers'' knowledge about the food they consume on a daily basis.'' Kirkus Reviews
'' Combat-Ready Kitchen reveals in abundant detail how military necessityhas spawned food-technological invention and many of the processed foodsthat crowd our supermarket and kitchen shelves.'' Harold McGee, author of On Food & Cooking and Keys to Good Cooking
''A fascinating book that will make us reconsider the origins of modernindustrial food. Who could have guessed that so many of our commonconveniences were first developed for war? This book will make an enormousimpact in the field of food history.'' Ken Albala, director of food studies, University of the Pacific
''This is an excellent book on an important subject that readers will findfascinating for its relevance to their everyday lives and health. It also makesan important contribution to military history with its analysis of field rationsfrom antiquity to the present. With Combat-Ready Kitchen, which is wellwritten in an enjoyable style and exhaustively researched, Marx de Salcedohas done the American public a great service in bringing this importantsubject to our attention. Highly recommended.'' Richard A. Gabriel, historian; author of The Madness of Alexanderthe Great- And the Myth of Military Genius
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- New York, New York : Current, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2015]
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