Sasha Today in History.
Author: Sasha
This article is original to Sasha. Reprinting by any media is prohibited.
Why is it said that lunch meat is a sign of the strength of the US military? July 5, 1937: Hormel begins selling lunch meat on the market.
Many American generals believe that one of the four major contributors to the US military's victory in World War II was luncheon meat.
American soldiers would not agree with this view. They think canned luncheon meat is the worst canned meat. Why is there such a big difference in the evaluation of
?
Mainly, canned luncheon meat is not the same thing as canned beef and pork from the British, German and Japanese armies.
Take Japanese canned beef as an example. Zhengerbajing uses selected beef, puts it in a pot and cooks it with some seasonings.
This kind of canned beef contains basically pure beef. During World War II, the Japanese people were still relatively poor and did not eat much meat. The soldiers were very satisfied if they could eat this pure canned beef.
Canned beef in the UK and Germany is similar. Canned pork is made from large pieces of pork.
Eating these cans is eating meat, which is very good for soldiers.
However, this is not the case with canned luncheon meat in the United States.
Canned lunch meat could not have appeared at all. It was born during the special period of the Great Depression in the United States.
Americans are mainly of German and Irish descent. Eating is quite simple, but they attach great importance to raw materials.
As far as eating meat is concerned, they eat fresh beef, pork, and chicken, and they have very high requirements for meat quality.
After the appearance of canned food in the United States, canned meat, like the United Kingdom and Germany, is made of large pieces of fresh meat, so that people will buy it.
Some merchants used to eat the poorer meat from pigs and cows and made it into cheaper cans, but no one cared about it at all. Who would eat expensive canned meat when you can eat fresh meat that is not too expensive, let alone canned meat that is very poor.
Before the Great Depression , the U.S. canned meat market was dull.
In the early 1930s, the Great Depression broke out in the United States, completely changing everything.
At that time, a quarter of the people in the country were unemployed and had to rely on social assistance to receive daily bread.
In this case, it is difficult to fill the stomach, and eating meat is just a luxury.
Then, canned luncheon meat made its grand appearance.
Canned luncheon meat was originally a cheap, low-end canned food. This kind of can is made from the least valuable meat from the pig, such as pork shoulder (Americans don’t like shoulder meat), and a lot of starch.
This kind of canned meat is exactly minced meat or chunky meat paste. It just smells like meat and is not real meat at all.
To put it bluntly, this is just for the poor who can’t afford meat, just to enjoy themselves.
After all, the Great Depression in the United States only lasted a few years. Soldiers had eaten real meat since childhood and were extremely disgusted with canned luncheon meat.
People who are used to eating large pieces of fresh meat, who wants to eat weird flour and meat paste?
What’s interesting is that the US military instantly took a fancy to canned luncheon meat.
Although canned luncheon meat is terrible, it has its own characteristics and is very suitable for military use.
First, its price is very low, only a fraction of ordinary pure canned meat.
The US military understands that once a war breaks out, millions of people will join the army, and the amount of canned meat consumed every day is astronomical.
If you can buy several cans of luncheon meat for the price of one can of beef, it is the best thing for the military.
Second, although lunch meat has no nutrition, it is very high in calories and can satisfy the huge calorie consumption of military personnel.
US military research believes that soldiers in fierce battles consume three to four thousand calories a day. If the caloric consumption cannot be replenished in time, soldiers will lose weight rapidly. It is common to lose 1 pound a day.
If soldiers do not supplement their calories enough, they cannot even guarantee their survival, let alone fight.
A portion of more than 300 grams of canned lunch meat can provide up to 900 calories. Eating two cans of luncheon meat a day can replenish nearly 2,000 calories, which is the average daily caloric requirement for soldiers. Of course, the daily rations of American soldiers are not only canned luncheon meat, but also a variety of other things. With the high calories provided by canned luncheon meat, military rations can meet actual combat needs.
Canned luncheon meat is easy to store and transport.
Luncheon meat will be put into sodium nitrate and other substances when making it, so it has a long shelf life and can be stored and transported for a long time, which meets the needs of war.
At the same time, canned luncheon meat is not large and can be easily packed into a backpack or military ration box, making it easy to carry.
Why is this kind of canned luncheon meat called?
was actually originally used for American picnic lunches and is a lightweight canned meat.
So from 1941 to 1945, the U.S. War Department spent $373 million to purchase billions of canned luncheon meats. The number
is very scary.
You must know that according to the " Lend-Lease Act", the United States' military aid to China during World War II was only about 800 million US dollars in total.
In other words, Americans spent half of the aid money they gave to China to buy canned luncheon meat.
The logistics force is very satisfied with this and believes that they have solved a big problem through luncheon meat.
On any battlefield, the U.S. military has endless cans of luncheon meat, which can ensure a sufficient supply of human body calories.
However, the American soldiers thought exactly the opposite.
There are so many canned lunch meats that cooks use it as the main cooking material.
So no matter what food the American soldiers eat, they will smell the strong smell of lunch meat.
This made the US soldiers extremely angry and hated luncheon meat. Many World War II soldiers would never eat canned luncheon meat for decades after they retired, no matter how difficult their lives were.
Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, accidentally met Corey, the president of Hormel Company (the luncheon meat canned company). He said humorously: "In the past four years, millions of soldiers and I have been eating your company's luncheon meat. "I must admit that I really wanted to shoot you because the lunch meat you sent was too much."
In fact, the fact that U.S. soldiers hate canned luncheon meat is a sign of the strength of American logistics. .
Why?
Canned luncheon meat, which Americans despise so much, is a delicacy unimaginable on other battlefields.
Former British Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher recalled: "I remember it was Boxing Day in 1943 (the first day after Christmas, the British habit of giving gifts to postmen, milkmen, etc. on this day), We had friends visiting... We opened a can of Spam and we had some lettuce and potatoes. The friends were delighted to say how rich it was to have luncheon meat and salad."
Even Mrs Thatcher was delighted. Luncheon meat was considered a delicacy because the British couldn't eat much meat at the time.
Regarding the Chinese battlefield, I’m sorry, the soldiers can only eat half full of brown rice, so why eat meat?
The cans of luncheon meat that American soldiers are eager to smash must be eaten by soldiers from other countries.
statement:
This article refers to the
picture from Baidu pictures on the Internet. If there is any infringement, please notify us and delete it.
