Meals Rejected by Ethiopians

Susanna Cornett's evocative piece about Army C-rations (which she at first misidentified as MREs, but no matter, and anyway almost all of her pieces are evocative) reminded me of my days in fatigues, so long ago that one's MOS was expressed in Roman numerals, and my first experience away from the mess hall, out on some practice bivouac.

Fortunately, I can't remember the song I wrote about one particular package — I do know that it was hard as hell to get reasonable scansion out of any verse that contained "Ham, Water Added, and Eggs, Chopped, Canned" — but two things I have learned over the years since then:

1. When you're hungry enough, minor aesthetic considerations fade into the background;

2. On most airlines, getting C-rations could be legitimately considered an upgrade.

Posted at 7:30 AM to Worth a Fork