Short Synopsis
An eye-opening examination of the U.S. military's influence on the American food industry and the way we eat.

Full Synopsis
You probably don't realize that your supermarket is filled with foods that have a military origin: canned goods, packaged deli meats, TV dinners, cling wrap, energy bars . . . the list is almost endless. In fact, there's a watered-down combat ration lurking in practically every bag, box, can, bottle, jar, and carton Americans buy.

Anastacia Marx de Salcedo shows how the Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate plans, funds, and spreads the food science that enables it to produce cheap, imperishable rations. It works with an immense network of university, government, and industry collaborators such as ADM, ConAgra, General Mills, Hershey, Hormel, Mars, Nabisco, Reynolds, Smithfield, Swift, Tyson and Unilever. It's a good deal for both sides: the conglomerates get exclusive patents or a headstart on the next breakthrough technology; the Army ensures that it has commercial suppliers if it ever needs to manufacture millions of rations.

And for us consumers, who eat this food originally designed for soldiers on the battlefield? We're the guinea pigs in a giant public health experiment, one in which science and technology, at the beck of the military, have taken over our kitchens.

"A well-researched effort that will undoubtedly add to general readers' knowledge about the food they consume on a daily basis." ---Kirkus

"Combat-Ready Kitchen reveals in abundant detail how military necessity has spawned food-technological invention and many of the processed foods that crowd our supermarket and kitchen shelves." ---Harold McGee, author of On Food & Cooking

"C.S.E. Cooney's narration will convince the audience that they are hearing the passionate author herself." ---Library Journal Audio Review