A breakthrough for U.S. troops: Combat-ready pizza
NATICK, Mass. — The U.S. military calls its combat field rations MREs, for meals, ready to eat, because they require no cooking. But the troops long ago decided that those initials stood for Meals Refused by Everyone. The stuff may have been filling, but it sure wasn’t appetizing.
Worried about morale, the Army set out on a long-term effort to upgrade the menu with items that the troops might actually like. And its food scientists have finally hit on what many say is the holy grail of field rations: the MRE pizza.
Now being shipped to military bases around the world, the newest of 24 current MRE options is a humble 3- by 5-inch Sicilian-style slice, scattered with melt-proof shreds of mozzarella and pebbles of mild pepperoni, sealed in a dun-colored laminate pouch.
To qualify for MRE duty, a food item has to be able to survive years of storage in a dank ship’s hold or a sun-baked shipping container, withstand Arctic freezes and tropical monsoons, stave off assaults by insects, and remain intact through a parachute airdrop or even a free fall from 100 feet.
Army regulations say it has to stay fresh for 36 months.
It’s a tall order, and the Army’s Combat Feeding Directorate, based at the Natick Soldier Systems Center in the suburbs of Boston, has been trying to fill it for more than 20 years. It took hundreds of failed attempts before the directorate finally came up with a workable version.
The deployment of MRE pizza is also an indication of how much the military has been forced to change its culture since the draft effectively ended in 1973.
For an independent expert’s opinion, the New York Times turned to Jeff Pond, the chef at Area Four, one of the top rated artisanal pizzerias in Boston.
He slid the slice out of its pouch and took a tentative bite, then a few chews.
“You know, they’re not far off,” he finally said. “It’s familiar. It reminds me of the frozen pizzas I had as a kid.”
He took another bite. “I actually like this,” he said. “Think about it — their job, designing a pizza that will last, is much harder than what I do. It’s cool they would go through all that to deliver something like this for the average soldier.”