If you missed
this featurein the New York Times, take a minute to enjoy it.
Armed forces from nearly 50 nations are serving in Afghanistan. All those countries equip their troops with meals-ready-to-eat. MREs (or einmannpakung for Germans) are supposed to bring a taste of home, or something approximating it, to men and women far away.
I expected all the meals-in-packets to be pretty much the same, but the variety is astonishing. The French version includes a massive amount of food, including duck confit, venison pate and fish soup. (It's romantically titled Ration de Combat Individuelle Rechauffable.) The Italian meal includes pasta, of course, and Vienna sausages, but also fiber tablets and three toothbrushes. Sweden and Norway get cod stew with sour cream and potatoes plus oat biscuits — that actually sounds pretty good.
