This seems rather silly. Surely it's better to be a little hungry than risk foreign contamination. Who knows what the British pack into their army rations! It might be mince pies! Mint sauce! Baked beans! The horror!
This piece of news is actually not all that new. Ten days ago, The Spiegel
reported that German Care packages were turned back because it was feared that they were infected with Mad Cow Disease.
[They saw through us. Darn. And we thought we had found a new way to world dominance!]
There is only one fact that bugs me about this explanation. Those food rations are NATO certified Mad Cow Disease-free and, gasp!, are cleared for consumption by US army personnel, e.g. in Afghanistan. When Der Spiegel inquired, the US Embassy in Germany rather sheepishly declared that the ban on the NATO food rations would be lifted again.
I'm watching this with bemused curiosity.
Actually, the British do put baked beans in their army rations. Some of which actually were transported to New Orleans.
And that was in the breakfast portion. (shudder)
Posted by: Royce | September 20, 2005 at 04:51 PM
I don't know about now, but back in the early 90s, they had really good crackers and little tins of pate. When I was Iraq, everyone would trade with the Brits whenever we got one of the really good American rations that they'd be willing to accept. (They were all sick of pate by the time I got there, but not sick enough to eat chicken a la king.)
Posted by: ellen | September 20, 2005 at 05:22 PM