COMBAT-READY KITCHEN

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

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.

This book will change the way you think about food forever.

ANASTACIA MARX DE SALCEDO is a food writer whose work has appeared in Salon, Slate, the Boston Globe, and Gourmet magazine and on PBS and NPR blogs. She’s worked as a public health consultant, news magazine publisher, and public policy researcher. She lives in Boston, MA. Visit AnastaciaMarxdeSalcedo.com.