Extreme canned foods...

Things that one should never eat.

http://gizmodo.com/5347767/8-foods-that ... d/gallery/

That was a kick, and the comments were just as funny. I can't imagine anyone eating the chicken or the hamburger in a can. I wonder what some of those folks who eat that stuff would think of the Farmer's Markets here in CA., or if they have ever been to a Farmer's Market.

I can't even imagine stocking a bomb shelter with that stuff!

Children in Israel have a wonderful, completely self-explanatory expression for such things:

Yichtz, fixtz!!!!!

He objected to the canned bread? He would have starved in Vietnam.

Chef, Hi...

A huge difference between the things we will eat in the heat of combat, when trekking through the wilds of the Andes or the HImalayas, in times of famine or plague and those that we will voluntarily eat in whatever it is we consider "normal" times.

Syrian and Israeli soldiers, for example, rarely come into friendly contact with each other but it does happen occasionally. I recall one time when I was the officer in charge at the border crossing at Quenetra. Only the officers were allowed to walk to the middle of the bridge and then supposedly only to discuss which UN officials or soldiers would be allowed to cross. Considering that most Syrian officers are from upper-class families and well educated, we met and discussed many things. On the Israeli side, among those our hatred for the foods that were supplied to us. We had "loof" (a kosher equivalent of spam, made primarily of chicken), tinned peas and carrots, tinned small potatoes, chocolate bars that although perfectly preserved had packaging dates going back a decade or more. The Syrians on the other side complained that they were given humous to three times daily.

Trades were arranged - humous for loof and tinned peas and carrots. We thought the humous was excellent. They loved the loof and the vegetables. As is said, all's fair in love and war.

As to loof as an option for eating today - only if I get very, very hungry and am tucked away in a bomb shelter for a week or so!!!! Sheesh....under those conditions I'll even drink Tapuzina (I suppose the Israeli equivalent of Gator Aid)

Best
Rogov

Spam was a treat to the grunts in Vietnam. Plus, the division I worked out of (the 25th Infantry Division) was stationed in Hawaii when not required to kill people somewhere else in the world. You probably know where Spam stands in the Hawaiian culinary pantheon.

I think the most universally hated can included in C-Rations was the one that contained the legend: Ham and Lima Beans. If you liked ham and you liked lima beans that made it even worse. It should have read "Fat and Disgusting Mush". You couldn't give it away let alone trade it for something else. Just about all other items could be swapped for something else. You know two peanut butters for a fruit cocktail, like that.

And I never really liked the canned bread myself. But, the container made the best little field stove - because it was dry inside. Open it with a P-38, remove the bread and throw it away, punch holes with a church key, place a small bit of C4 on a rock, light it, and then place the bread can over it. Then heat whatever.

I talk about it a little here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=106787

(I talk a LOT more about it in the memoir on which I work sporadically. This piece is heavily edited.)