How to Feed an Army: Recipes and Lore from the Front Lines [Paperback]

Jim Lewin (Author), P.J. Huff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2006

For more than 200 years, the American military has been doing its best to figure out How to Feed an Army

What they've managed to concoct along the way is a rich history of culinary successes, and some rather interesting side trips into the realm of experimentation. This is part cookbook and part history, and a full measure of fun. Inside you will find:

• More than 125 authentic military recipes from the American Revolution through Operation Iraqi Freedom

• How a fish fry ended the Civil War

• The best method for baking bread (it begins with a shovel)

• How to determine an oven's temperature without using a thermometer

• Recipes you can try at home, including Caribbean Catfish, hard tack, and English muffin french toast.

You will want to read this book if you have an interest in cooking. Or in eating. Or in history. Or in the military's version of any of the above.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An army travels on its stomach, or so the saying goes. What's remarkable is that the American military was able to travel anywhere when fueled by some of the recipes in Lewin and Huff's compilation of actual dishes served to troops in wartime. Covering everything from jerky eaten during the plains wars of the nineteenth century through Beets in Orange Lemon Sauce, currently being served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lewin and Huff have created the definitive overview of military food preparation. Recipes are scaled for an army (between 60 -100 servings), as well as an army of ten, allowing the cook to choose just how many pounds of canned salmon to buy when making Salmon Cakes. The majority of the recipes are simple and to-the-point, with few accoutrements such as spices and seasoning; although, as tastes have changed and procurement techniques have improved, military dishes like Crunchy Vegetable Burritos would not look out of place in a civilian cookbook. The book is packed with propaganda posters, cartoons and trivia about such essential tools as the "John Wayne," a portable can opener with multiple uses, first issued in 1942, that's still in use to this day. Military historians or veterans with a longing for Scalloped Noodles or French Fried Tomatoes will definitely want to seek this one out.
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About the Author

J. G. Lewin and P. J. Huff are freelance writers who specialize in popular and military history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (August 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060891114
• ISBN-13: 978-0060891114
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,645,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its savory collations will add to your esprit de corps, March 29, 2008

By 

Brian Connors (Yarmouth, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: How to Feed an Army: Recipes and Lore from the Front Lines (Paperback)

Okay, I think my love for historical cookbooks drew me into a trap on this one. But hey, it's still a pretty good book; I just resent it when a publisher shows me a book I absolutely have to have, because frankly I just don't have the cashflow to buy every interesting book I see. Be that as it may, this is a pretty interesting book for anyone with an interest in food or military history.

David Feldman wrote in one of his Imponderables books about why institutional food always seems to taste the same; the answer is that at least in the United States, many food service operations use recipes from the US Armed Forces' recipe cards, a collection of some 1700 (as of the 2003 edition) recipes designed for feeding masses of people. They are not the most cutting-edge of recipes, leaning as they do less towards Wolfgang Puck than the disgraceful Sandra Lee, but they do represent a remarkable tour de force in logistical organization in one of the most advanced militaries in the world. That said, it is something of a chore to acquire the collection (one must be handy with wget and have a laser printer loaded with cardstock, or spend much money for a printed edition), and in any case there is little historical context for the casual reader. That is what makes this book interesting.

This book covers some of the more popular dishes from various conflicts from the history of the United States, going back to the Revolutionary War all the way up to the current Iraq conflict, and includes extensive footnotes and sidebars on the place of food in US military history (the importance of coffee to American fighters, the "embalmed beef" controversy of World War I, the sentimental significance of the P-38 can opener, and an infamous fish-related screwup by the Confederate Army in northern Virginia that led to the truce at Appomattox all rate much discussion) as well as comments, cartoons, and even slang definitions related to military eating. Recipes are given in their original 100-portion bulk and scaled down quantities for only ten soldiers. Overall the food actually looks mostly quite good, if sometimes humorously inauthentic (the "Greek Lemon Turkey Pasta", apparently currently on offer in the DFACs in Iraq, is a good example of both points), though the most famous clunkers of military cooking are in there as well (hardtack, for example, is page 145, while an infamously unmentionable breakfast is on page 44).

So this is definitely a book for historians of both military and culinary stripes, as well as foodies in general and those responsible for huge kitchen operations in particular. Some of the things in here, like Slumgullion or the intensely purist World War I Chile con Carne, even make for interesting theme meals for dinner parties; others, such as Beef Porcupines or English Muffin French Toast, would be great kid's meals. Military memorabilia is not to everyone's taste, but if you do like that sort of thing, you'll love this.