European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 28, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cookbooks attempt to ease the pain Merwise  discussion about the unappetizing inference Between russian Anil romanian Field rations the authors neglect to Point out a major distinguishing actor Between i i recently Road an article in the  army Law if Tichun. On the subject of combat ration of the Warsaw poet  in an otherwise  i Ron pc  _ of i ,.u, ,_.,_. The Warsaw pact and the United states Rah Italy Only the latter provides lightweight portable flexible cookbooks specially designed for the gourmet Soldier to carry into combat. An official Cookbook published by the military is the 25th infantry division Tropic lightning Are Cookbook. This 31-Page Booklet contains 14 recipes for grub what else could you Call it Thyl can be made by mixing together the contents of individual Are meal ready to Eal packets. The Cookbook is issued to those soldiers on Field duty who Are expected o live on mr5s Forn extended period of time. An introductory Section reports that the commit support co 1st battalion 35 infantry nicknamed cacti subsisted on res As a sole source of food for 36 Days. What it does t say is that the company earned its cacti name Only Afler consuming 108 meals made of dehydrated foods. The introduction also advises that heating of meat components is  you bet. It suggests that you remove the Are Pouch f of its protective Carton and hold the Pouch briefly Over a direct flame. Or you can heat water in a canteen cup and put the Pouch into the hot water Lor a Lew minutes. Obviously there s no need to attend cooking classes at cordon Bleu before tackling these recipes. The Cookbook lists a French onion soup recipe that contains no onions although it does recommend adding chopped onions if available. There s also a foxhole Ambrosia which has no Coconut in it and sounds like the kind of dessert that quibble would fix for sgt. Mom. Almost All the main dish recipes advise that you season with hot sauce if available which gives new meaning to the claim that.s. Military forces arc the hottest in the  my favorite recipe from the official Are Cookbook is Battlefield birthday cake composed of "1 Maple nut cake 1 pack Peanut  the instructions Tell you to open cake package Massage Peanut butter pack until blended. Spread evenly Over cake. Insert candles if you brought  they conveniently forget to mention that if the Light from the candles alerts the enemy to your position you might not have any More birthdays to celebrate. Competing for pocket space in the gourmet i s Field uniform is the unofficial Are recipe Booklet published Ivy he Mcillhenny co., the same people who manufacture  sauce. Like the 25th infantry division s Cookbook this one is priced to fit anyone s budget it s free. Sized to fit into a uniform cargo pocket this humorously written unofficial Are Cookbook is printed on heavy paper with color illustrations by Mort Walker creator of the Beetle Bailey comic strip. Now you can take along Beetle. Cookie Sarge and general Hal track to keep you company on the next Field exercise. Both the official and the unofficial Are cookbooks contain some of the same recipes not surprisingly Given the limited array of ingredients available to work with. The Tabasco company s Cookbook takes an up beat approach to the matter by defining res As meals ready to excite which is an excellent example of disinformation. As you might expect Many of the recipes suggest the use of Tabasco Brand hoi Pepper sauce. Dedicated to the inventive Battlefield gourmet the Tabasco Cookbook also contains a Brief introduction outlining the role of food in military history from which we could conclude that without food there would be no wars. A sobering thought although not a profound one. The 16-Page Tabasco Cookbook offers 24 recipes plus several other suggestions for palatable ways to Combine the contents of Are pouches. Among my favorite recipes is combat canapes made from pineapple or applesauce mashed together with Peanut butter and Apple Jelly Iben spread on crackers. These merely whet your appetite for the More serious stuff such As Wong Hung to Sweet n sour beef straight from the lands of Golden temples to you which combines beef slices in Barbecue sauce with Apple Jelly pineapple dehydrated Catsup and Tabasco sauce. Or How about "40mm bean Wiches the Field Soldier s substitute for nachos if that does t tickle your fancy you can try Ham grenades Victory pot pie or foxhole  the desserts sound Best of All it s recommended that you Combine 1 envelope of chocolate beverage powder with 1 envelope of sugar and 2 Teaspoons of water then add 1 envelope of Peanut butter or a Little instant Coffee powder to make a Sweet sauce to pour Over the brownies or cakes in your Are ration. For Christmas parties in the Field you can whip up a Batch of Peanut butter Cannon  just Mash together 1 envelope of Peanut Butler 2 envelopes sugar and 6 two Inch crackers adding mow to have fun Satin on the rum Tot Tat a few drops of Waler if necessary to make the whole mess stick together. Shape the mixture into one Inch balls and Roll each Ball in Cocoa beverage powder. They re like nothing mom Ever sent from Home. The idea for this Cookbook originated with Brig. Gen. Walter s. Mcillhenny Usmar ret who also happens to be the chairman and chief executive officer of the company that produces Tabasco sauce. Mcillhenny s credits also list him As the Man behind the Charlie ration Cookbook which presumably has been phased out along with All those cans of Beefsteak with Gravy and other inedible a rat substances. To get your free copy of the  Are recipe Booklet write to Tabasco Are recipes the Mcillhenny co., a cry Island Louisiana 70513. By sending $5 to the same address you can order a Tabasco bottle Holster made from camouflage material which honks onto the Belt of your Field uniform. The Holster holds a two ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce which Many folks consider necessary to adequately defend yourself against res. Included in the Purchase Price of the Holster is a Small bottle of Tabasco sauce and a copy of the unofficial Mac recipe Booklet la makes an Ideal Christmas gift for your favorite Gung to friends to iw5 Sharon Hud Pini-3. 1 component ingredients than a nuclear weapon and so Many additives that it constitutes chemical warfare upon your system. After serving this Are you can expect rapid deployment to the nearest latrine. Ham and Chicken loaf High tech spam. No one would Trade for it even when i offered to throw in an extra ration of Fruitcake. Meat balls in Barbecue sauce not bad at All if you smother it with hot sauce and if you be never tasted real Barbecue before. Beef ground with spiced sauce a lot like thick goulash soup. All four of us judged it to be not bad meaning edible if the flavor is enhanced with hot sauce. Dehydrated potatoes these refused to carry out their Mission. No matter what we did to those potatoes they just sat there and glared Back at us. The military has decided to eliminate these and other dehydrated foods from future Are selections. No doubt the Powers that be want to reduce any possible causes of rebellion Long the troops dehydrated strawberries the instructions on the Pouch say eat dry or reconstitute in cold  have you Ever tried to eat a dehydrated Strawberry it s like choking Down fruit Flavoured Hay. However i be made an important discovery about these waterless wonders dropping them into a Glass of cheap White makes a very Good drink indeed. As the evening wore on and after several glasses of my Strawberry special we All agreed that dehydrated strawberries were one of the Best items in the Are packets. Troops in the Field however will find them useful Only in those areas where White wines can be easily liberated. Unfortunately by 1989 dehydrated strawberries will have been eliminated from Are packets. Whoever made that decision obviously never lasted one of my Strawberry  chocolate nut cake this tasted like a half baked chocolate Chip cookie Only with less flavor. I could t get anyone to Trade for it. Peanut butter quite tasty if you be never eaten the deaf Smith version. However our Host explained that both a rat and Are Peanut butter contain so much Oil that you can easily set the stuff on fire. Crape Jelly neither looked nor lasted like it had Ever seen a grape. Better used for lubricating tank treads. Accessory packets these contained All kinds of goodies including the toilet paper thai we used for napkins Serviettes to you brits. Items included chewing gum surely to use after the meal to take the taste of res out of your Mouth and to prevent your breath from alerting the enemy and a four pack of Jelly bars like giant Jelly Beans a Case of not so Subtle political partisanship in my opinion. The package of Salt seemed unnecessary since the Are foods already contain so much sodium. 1 also wondered about the instant Coffee made with ascorbic acid. Is this some kind of Pentagon plot to make sure that our troops Don t get scurvy what happened to the old fashioned barrels of limes i thought thai the Cream substitute dry non Dairy was a Good example of truth in Labelling since a cow did t have anything to do with the product. This Cream substitute contains More chemicals than nerve Gas which is probably what you la get from consuming the stuff. By far the most practical item in the accessory packet was a Book of matches. By the end of the meal i was seriously considering using them to set ire to the camouflage Tablecloth so that in the in suing panic i could escape to a Good restaurant. I Don t know what sgt. Ret Clement launder would think of this particular Crai Are meal but using his rating scale i would give it one pointy Finger. I la admit it i m not ready for combat. It s one thing to look the enemy squarely in the Eye. It s quite another too a a foil Pouch containing a dehydrated pork partly and know that you have to cat it to survive. C 19bs Sharon huddle in november 26,19ss stripes Magazine