Evening star., 1895-02-04
JAPANESE ARMY FOOD
What the Soldiers of the Mikado's Army
Live On.
Rations of the Private I'm the United
States and the Quality of
the Food.

|
do not fight unless they are satisfactorily
fed. During the late civil war the boys
in blue were provided with such a very
liberal ration that Thackeray, in one of his
books, speaks of it as wild extravaganza.
1t is interesting to compare the rations
of the United States army at present with
those allowed to the Japanese soldiers
who are marching VIGOROUSLY through
China. In respect to quantity no differ
ence Is observable, though 1t would be
difficult to draw line on this point owing
to the fact that the Japanese are furnished
with food in kind altogether dissimilar
| The staple Of their diet is rice, which, for
the sake of convenience, is made up into
| balls. 1t is first cooked and then COM
| pressed by means Of appliances shaped
| somewhat like lemon-squeezers, and oper-
ated on a like principle. Thus consider
| able amount of the vegetable is condensed
| into comparatively small compass.
| This rice is eaten by the soldiers in va
| rious ways. Most commonly it is put into
| pot with hot water and thus subjected
| to process Of recooking, in the course OF
which it expands to perhaps four times
| Its compressed bulk. The balls which are
| about as big as ones two fists are some
times cut into slices, and the latter are
| roasted. When there is no fire at hand,
or time is short, the rice balls may be cut
| up and consumed without further prepara-
ton, being already cooked and in whole
|
| Meat and Fish.
While on the march, the Japanese SOL
diers subsist almost wholly on rice, dried
| fish and canned meat. Recently a Chicago
| packer filled an order for an immense
quantity of canned beef to supply the in
vading army in China. The soldiers Of
| Japan all eat meat regularly though the
diet of the people at large is vegetarian.
| AT every garrison town in Japan beeves
are slaughtered at stated intervals for
the soldiers. On that account. foreigners
| travelling in the dominions of the m;kado
| find 1t convenient to be at or near town
| where troops are stationed, COR otherwise
| they may have difficulty in obtaining meat
for their tables.
The dried fish furnished to the soldiers
are of several species. In Japan there is
| no lack of fish, the rivers and seas abound
ing in finny game. More priced than any
| other perhaps is the tai, which resembles
| the whitefish of our great lakes. The COM
| mon squid or cuttlefish, which supplies the
Sepla or commerce, as we'll as bones for ca
nary birds to sharpen their bills upon, is
| regarded a delcacy of the first order.
| The japanese can their own salmon. which
| have flesh redder than those of the CO.
| lumbia river, and these fishes are brought
| alive to Toxic in tanks for sale.
Canned salmon is a very satisfying food
and serves well for rations, but ii is fur
| nished to the soldiers only when they are
| at home. The same remark probably ap-
i
ly fond Of pickles, which serve as relishes
to accompany the staple diet Of rice. They
pickle all sorts of vegetables, among them
a kind Of turnip that has the shape of
radish and grows to length of more than
three feet. When picked in the proper
way it smells so horribly that no foreign
er would touch it. Nevertheless, the Jap
anese are extremely dainty as to their
eating. They will not touch mutton at
all. Until the Portuguese landed in Japan
sheep were unknown in that country, and
various unpleasant legends connected with
those animals have much to do with the
popular prejudice against this kind OF
meat. japanese women who become the
mistresses of foreigners are contemptu-
ously called 'muttons."
American Soldiers Rations.
The ration for a soldier in the United
States army considerably exceeds what is
necessary for the support of man. 1t
consists for each day of twelve ounces of
pork, or bacon or canned beef. and eigh-
teen ounces of soft bread or flour. Instead
of the meat allowances mentioned, the
soldier may have twenty ounces of fresh
beef, or twenty-five ounces Of salt beef.
In place of the bread or flour, he may
have twenty ounces of corn meal or six
teen ounces of hard bread. But this is
not all. For every 100 men Uncle Sam
allows daily fifteen pounds of beans or
peas, eight pounds of roasted coffee fif-
teen pounds of sugar, four quarts of vine
SALT four ounces of pepper and a pound
and a half of candles. If preferred, ten
pounds of green coffee may be had instead
of eight pounds of roasted coffee, or two
pounds of tea afford another alternative
The ration for troops in the field is the
same, with the addition of four pounds OF
yeast powder to each 100 ratons of flour.
The best that can be made of this is a
very simple diet. But Uncle Sans soldiers
have good many luxuries for the table
without expense to themselves. These they
procure chiefly in two ways. AS rule
they do not draw from the commiSsary de-
partment nearly all of the rations allowed.
What Is left over is bought back by the
government. This means that the men get
the money value of the stuff instead, and
with this cash they buy whatever they
want in the way of delicacies for the mess.
Whereas one man. or two or three to-
gether. might easily use up the whole of
the rations allowed, the expenditure per
man is greatly diminished when VIII Die
company has a mess together, and the
saving is proportiOnate. The cash rebate
above referred to is termed company saw
ingS."
Dried md EvapOrated Food.
The other way in which the soldiers get
money to spend on delicacies is through
the post "canteen." This is a sort of club
managed by the officers of the post for the
benefit of the men, 1t is a restaurant and
also shop at which many things are sold
War Department would prefer that the
soldiers should not drink beer, but they
are bound to drink something, and beer is
much less harmful than whisky The
profits Of the ''canteen" are used for the
soldiers in various ways, part of the money
being appropriated for the purchase of
table supplies.
Pea soup is manufactured nowadays in a
condensed form for soldiers rations. The
pease are roasted and ground fine, season.
ing being added, together with a small
quantity of beef extract to serve the pur-
pose of stock. Finally the mixture is
dried and reduced by pressure to the con-
dition of a yellow solid. This material
may be bought by the quantity for fifteen
cents a pound, and 100 pounds of it will
make 400 quarts of soup. All that is neces-
sary is to mix it with water and boil it in
order to make it ready for use. Pease are
considerably more nutritious than beef
steak.
Coffee is put up in the shape of small
lozenges, one Of which serves for a cup.
The lozenge has merely to be put into the
cup, water being poured upon it, and the
coffee is ready at once. A four-ounce
package of loZenges is a sufficient ration
for a man for one month The loZenges
are made by condensfng ordinary coffee
made in the usual way, and then evaporat-
ing it. Condensed eggs are already on the
market in half dozen forms, prepared by