The First World War was the first large-scale “modern” mechanized war, in which the entire economic power of the country was focused onto the war effort. The bullets, artillery shells, poison gas, tanks, aircraft, bayonets and flamethrowers that were churned out in tremendous quantities made the life of the conscripts on the frontline trenches a living hell. At the same time, the industrial-level output for new modern canned foods meant that the men were supplied, at least semi-regularly, with a steady diet of food that was simple, cheap, and turned out in huge quantities.
"Hidden History" is a diary series that explores forgotten and little-known areas of history.
Canned food for military rations had already appeared back during the Spanish-American War in 1898, though it was then a primitive technology that sometimes malfunctioned, and much of it was unpalatable or inedible.
By the time of the Great War in 1914, however, the technology had improved greatly, and armies in the field could now be provided with immense quantities of canned food that was safe and reliable, could be easily transported, was protected from the mud and wet of the trenches, and could be stored for long periods of time without going bad. Though the Army tried to provide a variety of foods to boost morale, however, the brutal necessities of war meant that ammunition and military equipment usually had priority, and most of the food that made it to the front trenches was bland and monotonous. The troops found ways to make do.
In theory, the troops were to have been well-provisioned. Plans originally called for field kitchens at the front to daily receive fresh meat, coffee or tea, and local vegetables. In reality, however, this rarely happened, and canned goods became the staple rations for most throughout the war.
A number of different canned meats were produced during the war, including sliced beef, salmon, and hamburger. In reality, though, the most common by far was corned beef hash, which was cheap and easy to make. There were three different varieties. The French version (made and canned in Madagascar) was the most disliked, and troops referred to it as “monkey meat”. The Americans produced another version (usually canned in Argentina) which was slightly better-liked: it was called “horse in a can” by the men. The “best” version was the British-made concoction, which was widely known as “bully beef”. Theoretically, corned beef was intended to be heated over a stove or fire, but in reality there were scarcely any cooking facilities in the trenches, so most of it was eaten cold from the can. If one was lucky enough to obtain some fresh potatoes, these could be diced and added to the corned beef, and this trench dish was known as “Willy Hash”.
Corned beef was usually accompanied by what became the other staple food of the trenches—the biscuit or cracker. This was essentially unchanged from the days of the Roman Empire, when “hardtack” had helped feed Caesar’s Legions in Gaul. A simple cracker made from a mixture of whole-wheat flour, water, and a little salt and measuring about four inches square, the biscuit was produced in both the UK and the US in immense quantities. Dried and packed in waxed boxes, these biscuits could be stored almost indefinitely, they didn’t break or crumble during transport, and they were (mostly) resistant to insect pests. By 1916 so many biscuits were being shipped to the trenches that England actually went through a flour shortage and had to ask the civilian population to voluntarily ration their bread usage and use “war bread”, made from rye or potato flour, instead of wheat bread.
The troops called their crackers “dog biscuits”, and they were considered to be barely edible. In their unaltered form they were as hard as a brick, so another name for them was “tooth dullers”. Trench cooks invented some clever ways to make them palatable. Some would soak the biscuits in a cup of coffee or water for several hours to make them somewhat soggy. Others would pound the dry cracker into a powdery flour and mix it with water, then fry this “dough” in bacon fat to produce a sort of bread.
The military tried whenever possible to get fresh (or dried) vegetables to their troops, and the men themselves often purchased whatever they could (such as potatoes, beans, onions, or tomatoes) from the local French peasant farmers, but most often the best the supply depot could get was canned vegetables. The most common of these was a soup made from diced turnips and carrots, called “maconochie”. Like the bully beef, this was usually eaten cold from the can.
American troops were provided (whenever possible) with generous amounts of coffee, while the British men received tea. This was a morale-booster and a reminder of home. It also had the practical purpose of hiding the awful taste of the drinking water they were being given, which was usually transported to the trenches in the same empty (and un-rinsed) drums and jerry cans that had already been used to carry gasoline.
So, for most of their time in the trenches, the troops lived on a monotonous diet of cold corned beef, crackers, and maconochie, washed down with gasoline-tainted tea or coffee. Whenever they could, though, the men improvised and produced some clever variations.
One of these concoctions was “Slum Stew”. This was made by mixing canned sliced beef in a pot of water with some pounded-cracker flour, tomatoes, onions, and/or potatoes. This would be simmered in a pot for several hours. Sometimes the cook would sprinkle some powdered biscuit on top of the thickened stew to make a sort of crust—this variant was known as “Full Pack Slum”.
The American troops in particular were supplied with a lot of canned salmon, which could be obtained cheaply by the Army from the Pacific coast. It was not well-liked by most of the men. However, some would mix the canned fish with flour or corn meal, form this into a patty, and fry it over a stove. It became known as “Goldfish Loaf”.
Another American “favorite” was a mixture of canned hamburger with canned pork and beans, both of which were being sent to France in large quantities. This blend, perhaps spiced up with some tomato sauce or onions, was called “Army Goulash”. It could be eaten hot or cold.
Both the Americans and the British were also given supplies of bacon and salt pork, which had been staples for military rations since before the American Revolutionary War. In the trenches, this meat ration could be boiled in a pot with beans (known scatologically as “Repeaters”) and perhaps some tomato sauce and/or onions, to form a stew called “Bullets in a Pot”.
If one was really lucky, one could mix wheat flour with water and powdered cocoa (usually sent from home) and heat this over a stove to make a “Trench Cake”. To be eaten on a special occasion.
NOTE: As some of you already know, all of my diaries here are draft chapters for a number of books I am working on. So I welcome any corrections you may have, whether it's typos or places that are unclear or factual errors. I think of y'all as my pre-publication editors and proofreaders. ;)