However by the end of flour became hard to come by so bread, known as K-Brot was made from dried potatoes, oats, barley and even pulverised straw. The occasional arrival of vats of stew called "pan packs" was a cause for celebration. A soldier's mess kit including the dreaded Maconochie stew [PH]. An older tradition of a rum ration endured although it was viewed with mixed feelings. Food science was in its infancy and the lack of variety led to vitamin deficiencies, while stomach upsets were common.
Because of the shortage of fresh water, troops often resorted to drinking from the ditches and puddles. Before the advent of tinned food in the late 19th century, it was normal for armies to herd cattle as they went. The Gloucestershire Regiment is said to have kept the custom alive in the First World War by having a trench cow which ensured a supply of fresh milk.
It's also claimed that some soldiers who were dug in for months grew vegetables. Away from the frontline there was scope for men to improve their diet. They went fishing, poached game, scrounged fruit and liberated chickens from the French farms. Officers often turned a blind eye, believing the victims had every reason to be grateful for the presence of the British Army.
Soldiers were also able to receive food parcels from home containing cakes, chocolate and other goodies, and used their wages to buy food locally. In villages impromptu cafes called estaminets sprang up everywhere. Often they were in front rooms but they became very popular with the Tommies. The locals soon realised that their own cuisine was not to the taste of most of the British soldiers, who were especially dismissive of the "smelly" French cheeses. Instead they began serving up platefuls of eggs and chips washed down with cheap "vin blanc" which became known as plonk.
For officers with access to transport the options away from the front were even more tempting, including the fine restaurants of Amiens. There's no doubt that the British troops ate better than their German counterparts, particularly when the war finally turned in favour of the Allies. However a propaganda broadcast in which it was claimed that British soldiers were enjoying two hot meals a day caused an outcry because it was far from the truth.
In the reserve lines there were also Army cooks and mobile kitchens but the quality varied. Although the dishes could be plain, cooks were taught to look for nettles, sweet docks, wild mushrooms and marigold flowers with which to season dishes.
Many of the cooks died in the fighting but it was considered by the Tommies to be a cushy job. Andrew Robertshaw, a curator at the Royal Logistic Corps Museum, in Camberley, Surrey, and author of Feeding Tommy, says: "There was no Army catering corps and in the trenches the men fended for themselves. General John Monash pointed out: "It takes a couple of thousand men and horses with hundreds of wagons, and huge motor lorries, to supply the daily wants of my population of 20, With reference to food we also have to see that all the men in the front lines regularly get hot food - coffee, oxo, porridge, stews.
Last night I added to my menu a bloater and some bread and marmalade, duff and coffee". Food was often supplied in cans. Maconochie contained sliced turnips and carrots in a thin soup. As one soldier said: "Warmed in the tin, Maconochie was edible; cold it was a mankiller. However, when they announced that British soldiers were being supplied with two hot meals a day, they received over , letters from angry soldiers pointing out the truth of the situation.
Men claimed that although the officers were well-fed the men in the trenches were treated appallingly. If you find this article useful, please feel free to share.
Harry Patch later reported: "Our rations - you were lucky if you got some bully beef and a biscuit. You couldn't get your teeth into it. Sometimes if they shelled the supply lines you didn't get anything for days on end. There were five in a machine-gun team, and everything we had was shared amongst us. I used to get a parcel from home. My mother knew the grocer pretty well. Food supply was a major problem when soldiers advanced into enemy territory. All men carried emergency food called iron rations.
This was a can of bully beef, a few biscuits and a sealed tin of tea and sugar. These iron rations could only be opened with the permission of an officer. This food did not last very long and if the kitchen staff were unable to provide food to the soldiers they might be forced to retreat from land they had won from the enemy. The biscuits are so hard that you had to put them on a firm surface and smash them with a stone or something. I've held one in my hand and hit the sharp corner of a brick wall and only hurt my hand.
Sometimes we soaked the smashed fragments in water for several days. Then we would heat and drain, pour condensed milk over a dishful of the stuff and get it down. In training the food was just about eatable but in France we were starving.
All we lived on was tea and dog biscuits. If we got meat once a week we were lucky, but imagine trying to eat standing in a trench full of water with the smell of dead bodies nearby. We are getting if possible busier and busier. A Brigade Order arriving last night fairly late involved getting breakfast for all troops at 7.
We are being sorted into jobs. I fancy I shall stay on cooking. This is good because it is as useful a job as is going and one that demands conscientious hard work still it does not involve going into the actual firing line - a thing I have no ambition to do. Stray shell fire and epidemics are all I want to face thank you, let those who like the firing line have all the bullets they want.
I am sorry you should have the wrong impression about the food; we always had more than enough, both to eat and drink. I give you a day's menu at random: Breakfast - bacon and tomatoes, bread, jam, and cocoa. Lunch - shepherd's pie, potted meat, potatoes, bread and jam. Tea - bread and jam. Supper - ox-tail soup, roast beef, whisky and soda, leeks, rice pudding, coffee.
We have provided stores of groceries and Harrods have been ordered to send us out a weekly parcel. Bad weather, poor organization, and especially enemy action which often targets supply lines can get in the way. A gas attack would ruin any exposed food in the trenches, and the trenches themselves were full of rats and other vermin.
Well aware of the problems of resupply, the Army developed the first emergency ration in The idea behind the emergency ration was that Soldiers could carry food for use in the event that they were cut off from supply lines. The reserve rations that doughboys carried contained over 3, calories worth of meat, bread, coffee, and sugar, and were designed to sustain them during assaults and periods when regular rations were unavailable. Emergency rations were tinned to preserve them until needed and to protect them from contamination during gas attacks as well as from mice, rats, and other scavengers.
With these rations on hand, Soldiers were expected to survive seven days without resupply, if necessary. As always, the cost of feeding the Army was an issue. All in all, Soldiers serving during the First World War had access to much better food than their predecessors, or even their contemporaries serving in allied armies.
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