Better Food For Our Fighting Men

Better Food For Our Fighting Men – Editor Matthieu Nicol gained access to an archive of recently declassified images from a U.S. Army “food science lab” responsible for irradiating, dehydrating, thermostabilizing, preserving, rehydrating, reheating and distributing soldiers’ menus. 92 non-fictional images from the late 60s to the early 90s compose the handbook Better Food For Our Fighting Men, designed, to be as compressed as a protein bar.⁠

A glossary with 24 entries explains some of the acronyms used in the image captions and traces the new technologies that enabled the food industry to manufacture and supply those rations. As is often the case, the innovations developed by the U.S. military had multiple applications in civilian life, many of which are manifest on the shelves of supermarkets today. ⁠