# Desecrated Vegetables: The Hardships of Civil War Eating



## Meanderer (Aug 14, 2014)

http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/desecrated-vegetables-the-hardships-of-civil-war-eating

"When you think of military food, the word “delicious” doesn’t often come to mind. That’s especially true of camp and battlefield rations, where MREs stocked with orange juice powder and peanut butter rule the day. But even today’s not-so-savory meals have come a long way since the Civil War, when battlefield food was just a pound of salt pork and a few ounces of sugar! In honor of the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States, we’re taking a look back at the food that fed hungry troops, both the blue and the grey.
One of the most striking differences in the way Civil War soldiers ate was simply who prepared the food. Instead of a centralized kitchen with dedicated cooks, each individual soldier was handed his rations of uncooked meat, flour and the rest. It was the soldier’s responsibility to prepare his own food as he saw fit. Naturally, in an era when women did the vast majority of the cooking at home, not every man in camp was equipped with the skills to make something edible out of a handful of corn meal and a slab of salt pork. Soldiers would group together to eat, and the most gifted cooks would step up to the challenge of preparing a full meal for their comrades."








One of the most enduring culinary legacies of the Civil War is condensed milk. Invented in the United States by Gail Borden in the 1850s, it grew enormously popular among troops for both its taste and durability. But only Union troops benefitted from the new technology: The Borden processing plant was located in New York, making it an impossibility for Confederate soldiers.


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## Falcon (Aug 14, 2014)

Interesting Meanderer.  Thanks for the post.


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## Pam (Aug 14, 2014)

Very interesting, thank you.


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