Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

i6oCAMPING AND WOODCRAFTbaked beans, even though the latter were desiccated,Practically it soon palls on the palate, upsets thestomach, and, like any other food composed almostwholly of legumes, causes flatulent dyspepsia orother disorders of the digestive tract.The British army tried it, and Tommy Atkinslet out a howl that reached from South Africa toLondon. The War Office replaced it with anotherGerman invention, Kopf's soup, which also had peameal for its basis but had a higher content of fat(17.25%). This was superior in potential energy,but the after effects were similar to those of erbswurst.It was plain that an exclusive diet, if onlyfor a day or two, of legumes and fat would soonput a man to the bad. England discarded the ironration and placated Tommy with jam—a wise move,as we shall see.In 1900 a new kind of emergency ration wasThis was made up ofintroduced in our own army.eight ounces of a meat-and-cereal powder, fourounces of sweet chocolate, and some salt and pepperall put up in a tin can eight inches long and thinenough to slip easily into one's pocket. This poundof food was calculated to subsist a man in fullstrength and vigor for one day. Details of itspreparation are here copied from official sources:"The chocolate component consists of equalweights of pure chocolate and pure sugar moldedinto cakes of one and one-third ounces each. Threeof these go into the day's ration."The bread and meat component consists of:"(i) Fresh lean beef free from visible fat andsinew, ground in a meat grinder and desiccated soas to contain five per cent or less of moisture, theheat never being allowed to cook it in the slightestdegree. The dried product is then reduced to pow'der and carefully sifted through a fine-meshed sieve,the resulting flour being the meat component."(2) Cooked kiln-dried wheat, the outer bran removed,is parched and then ground to a coarse powder.This yields the bread component. Sixteen;I