The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and military cooking fun facts. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know fun food facts we will look at Military Cooking fun facts.

Military Cooking Fun Facts: The first formal military food program was established in 1775 by the Continental Congress.

• In 1775 the basic ration included 1 pound (lb.) of beef, or 3/4 lb. of pork, or 1 lb. of salt fish; 1 lb. of bread or flour; 1 pint (pt.) of milk, or payment of 1/72 dollars, and 1 quart of cider or spruce beer; 3 pts. of peas or beans per man per week.
• Christopher Ludwick, a German immigrant to Philadelphia, was the city’s first gingerbread baker. He was later commissioned by the early American Congress as baker general of Continental Army.
• The D ration was a survival ration. The C ration with 3700 calories per meal was to be used for 3 to 21 days.  The K ration, with 2700 calories was to be used for up to 15 meals. Most of the time the K ration and the C ration were used together and interchangeably.
• The D ration was developed in 1935 and with some changes, was designated, a survival ration in 1939. It was a bar with chocolate, sugar, oat flour, cacao fat, skim milk powder and artificial flavoring.
• The C ration was originally developed in 1939, and with many revisions, was finalized in 1941. The varieties were meat and beans, meat and vegetable hash, and meat and vegetable stew.
• In a survey conducted in 1951 of the U.S. armed services, banana cream pie was the favorite dessert. Rice pudding was the least liked.

Military Cooking Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed any military cooking fun facts in the comment section. We love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts, we will give the reader credit in this article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Military Cooking.

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