Marching on their stomachs: The British armed forces and their grub

NAPOLEON said: 'An army marches on its stomach' and he had a point.

The British Army base in Afghanistan goes through 4 5 tons of chips a week GETTY The British Army base in Afghanistan goes through 4.5 tons of chips a week [GETTY]

Every fighting force is only as good as the food it's served and our cooks - like our troops - are second to none. Here are some amazing facts and figures from 300 years of British military grub, plus an authentic recipe to try at home, taken from a new book, Bully Beef And Boiled Sweets

THE PORTABLE STOVE used by our troops was invented by Alexis Benoist Soyer. He was a remark able French chef who as well as inventing cooking using gas and ovens with adjustable tempera tures did sterling work with the British Army.

In the Crimean War he trained and installed in every regiment a cook whose responsibility it was to feed the rest - a giant leap forward as until then it was every man for himself and many troops died from food poisoning and malnutrition.

On returning from the war he designed the kitchens at London's Wellington Barracks - the building which houses the soldiers who guard the Royal Family. His contributions have not been forgotten and in acknowledging what a huge difference Alexis made to our boys, the cooking division of the Army - the Royal Logistics Corps - named their HQ Soyer House.

FLOUR was in such short supply during the First World War that bread for the Tommy was made from dried and ground turnips.

RATIONS. Records from the Great War indicate that on a daily basis each British soldier should have been supplied with: a loaf of bread, some cheese, tea, jam, chocolate and (best of all) a quarter of a pint of rum (or a pint of stout if rum was not available) and 20oz of tobacco. Compare this to the German daily ration of just a loaf of bread, some biscuits and 50oz of potatoes and you can see that poor Jerry didn't stand a chance.

CARROTS were the only vegetables in plentiful supply during the Second World War. Dr Carrot - a cartoon character designed by Walt Disney no less - was used to encourage wartime mothers and serving soldiers to use the root veg as a substitute for other more scarce foodstuffs. There was even a push to encourage people to make a drink called Carrolade which was created by mixing carrot juice and grated swede and squeezing the mixture through some tights.

soldiers, food, British, cooks, chips, carrots, frittersCarrots were the only vegetable available in plentiful supply during WWII [GETTY]

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COOKS. At the first battle of Ypres in 1915, the German army very nearly broke through the Allied line completely. The only thing stopping them? A company of 100 cooks some of whom were armed with just ladles. Cooking on the frontline was a dangerous thing to do - smoke from the ovens would often attract enemy fire and cooks were some of the last British soldiers killed on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.

FAST FOOD. On big Army bases such as Bastion and Kandahar in Afghanistan, there are outlets for Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and most recently Greggs, serving the exact same grub we eat. The idea of having war zone fast food joints came - not surprisingly - from our American brothers and sisters but it was one that we soon borrowed and franchises started to pop up on our bases too.

MEALS ON THE MOVE. When soldiers are away from barracks for a considerable period they are issued with 24 hour food packs to see them through. These have generally been the same staple items for more than a century.

But in 2008 the ration pack had a makeover to combat the fact that squaddies were bored to tears with the food. Out went the stodgy hot puddings such as treacle sponge (sounds lovely but not so good to eat in the middle of the punishing heat of an Iraqi desert) and in came more modern dishes such as Thai green curry and beef teriyaki. There are now 20 options - 38 if you count the Sikh/Hindu, vegetarian and Halal ones. The packs contain three main meals plus snacks and drinks and deliver 4,000 calories for a day.

SPAM. In 2009 Corporal Liam Francis fed an entire battalion of the Royal Welsh Guards for six weeks on nothing but this canned pre cooked meat. The Taliban had shot down a supply helicopter, destroying his battalion's rations and meals for the next 42 days. However being a member of the British forces Corporal Francis didn't bat an eyelid and showed the resourcefulness for which our troops are rightly famous. He cracked open tin after tin of what was left in store and got cooking.

He knocked out Spam carbonara, Spam stroganoff, Spam stir fry and Spam fritters.

INSECTS. There are many unsavoury things our modern day soldiers have to overcome. They are taught that in a survival situation there is nothing more likely to get them through their predicament than chowing down on handfuls of creepy crawlies.

Why? Well they are the most reliable source of grub as they can be found everywhere on the planet. Also, they don't take a lot of effort or ingenuity to catch and what they lack in size they make up for in quantity.

And if that wasn't enough, it is known that they have more nutritional value pound for pound than vegetables - being high in fat, protein and carbohydrates.

CHIPS. At the British Army's main base in Afghanistan - Camp Bastion in Helmand Province - the chefs get through a staggering 7,500 burgers, 2.5 tons of chicken breasts, 20,000 baguettes and 4.5 tons of chips a week.

CURRY. Britain loves it - and we owe its introduction to our culture to the military. In the 1700s British soldiers were first stationed across India and while there they were served rogan josh, tikka masalas and biryanis. They immediately fell in love with the cuisine and were soon being served it every day. (The forces chefs knew that the dishes not only kept up morale but also meant that the meat rations would last longer. Sunday's roast beef became Monday's cottage pie which became Tuesday's curry.)

To order your copy of Bully Beef And Boiled Sweets by James Mannion, Constable and Robinson £11.49 (RRP £12.99) with free P&P call 0871 988 8451 or visit www.expressbooks.co.uk. You can also send a cheque or PO (payable to The Express) to: The Express Orders Dept, 1 Broadland Business Park, Norwich NR7 0WF. A percentage of the profits from sales of the book will go to Help For Heroes.

FORCES FRITTERS

In honour of Corporal Francis (see below), here's a quick and easy Spam fritter recipe. Any cooked meat or fish can be used though - all with the same excellent, tasty result.

WHAT YOU NEED

1 can of Spam 125g of plain flour pinch of salt 1 large egg 125ml of beer

HOW YOU DO IT

Mix the flour, salt and egg in a bowl. Add 125ml of the beer and drink the rest (see, cooking is fun). Give it a good stir and you should end up with a nice thick mixture. Next cut the Spam into slices and when that is done heat 2 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan or wok.

You can use more oil if you want or a deep fat fryer but whatever you use be very careful as hot oil is extremely dangerous. When the oil is good and hot (a good way to tell is to drop a chunk of potato into it, when it floats to the surface the oil is ready), coat the Spam slices in the batter by dipping them into your bowl and then carefully drop them in the oil. Turn them over a couple of times over the next three to four minutes and they will be done.

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