As the old saying goes, "Before the soldiers and horses move, the grain and grass go first." Food is the most basic guarantee for the combat effectiveness of an army. Soldiers' diet has naturally become the focus of military attention in various countries, and military rations have naturally become one of the highlights of the development of military supplies.

(American soldiers heat their own rations)

However, unlike our daily cooking, in the context of fighting, training, exercises and so on. Soldiers need to absorb enough energy in a short time to supplement their huge physical consumption, but they can't blatantly use naked fire to prevent exposing their targets, and they can't freely choose menus like us, so they can only fill their stomachs quickly. In this case, commissary has naturally become the best choice for soldiers. However, unlike what we imagined, military rations are actually not delicious, and even can be regarded as "difficult to swallow" to some extent. Why is this?

(PLA Type 09 Individual Self-heating Military Food)

As we all know, under the influence of war, in many cases, soldiers in battle can't get timely food supplies. In order to prolong the intermittent time of supply as much as possible, countries generally design military grain into sealed packaging or canned packaging that can be stored for a long time, and extend its storage time by means of heavy salt and heavy oil. Moreover, in order to facilitate transportation, storage and carrying, military rations are usually in a compressed state, and their taste can be imagined. Moreover, in order to facilitate production, the menu content of military rations is relatively simple, and this kind of food as emergency food in wartime is naturally not delicious.

(compressed biscuits)

Then, can't the commissary be cooked better? Actually, it's not that rations are not delicious. It is the military of various countries that "deliberately do it." As we all know, military rations are more used as emergency food for wartime soldiers than as daily snacks. In order to prevent soldiers from eating rations in advance in order to satisfy their own desires, resulting in a shortage of rations when necessary, the military of various countries have to make military rations taste like "never eat unless absolutely necessary".

(French commissary, considered as the best individual commissary in modern times)

Of course, although it is not delicious, there are still many advantages in military food. First of all, military rations are easy to store, keep, transport and carry, which greatly reduces the logistical burden of troops. In addition, rations can generally be eaten without naked fire (old rations are generally ready-to-eat foods such as canned food and compressed biscuits, while modern rations are generally self-heating, and soldiers can heat food with water or their own fire sources), which not only ensures the safety of soldiers, but also enables soldiers to absorb necessary heat. And the most important point is that military rations fundamentally solve the problem of soldiers' eating on the battlefield, and can ensure the basic elements that soldiers need to ingest to a certain extent. Against the background of these advantages, it is understandable that the canteen tastes bad. And in fact, as long as the logistics system is perfect, the troops will be equipped with cooking troops who are specially responsible for food. The food of the troops in non-emergency periods is absolutely guaranteed, and military rations are more used as emergency food.