Meet the people who eat 100-year-old military rations

The Missouri resident had secured a U.S. military ration from the Vietnam War. On the menu? Canned pork slices, tinned peaches, crackers, a pastry and instant coffee.

Abernathy carefully inspected the items. The coffee creamer had congealed and was “hard as steel," he said in a video posted on YouTube. The pastry smelled like “something orange, with rancid nuts in it." And when he tried to pry open the can of peaches, it exploded—spraying decades-old fruit shrapnel onto the ceiling.

Ultimately, Abernathy, now 47, drank the coffee and nibbled on the crackers. “They don’t taste too bad," he said, though he added, “my ‘not too bad’ is probably pretty bad for your average joe." He stayed away from the pork slices.

The world is full of quirky subcultures of collectors. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a more courageous group than the people who covet—and eat—old military rations. Some enthusiasts dine on decades-old beef stew, while others swallow mouthfuls of ham from the Gulf War.

A few go further. Steven Thomas has eaten a British chocolate bar from 1943 (“perfectly edible"). He’s tasted century-old beef from the Second Boer War (“kind of lacking in flavor"). And 2.7 million YouTube viewers have watched him munch on a cracker from the American Civil War (“not very good").

Military field rations have a long and checkered history. Designed to survive for years without refrigeration, the meals have sustained generations of soldiers. As anyone who has ever tried them can attest, flavor wasn’t much of a priority.

American troops mocked early “Meals, Ready-to-Eat," or MREs, released in the 1980s to replace canned field rations, as “meals rejected by everyone." Certain entrees were notoriously cruel to soldiers’ taste buds and bowels, including the “four fingers of death" (smoked hot dogs) and the “vomlette" (vegetable omelet).

A screenshot of a 2022 video where Nathan Abernathy tries a Dutch armed forces ration from the same year.

Today’s American rations are usually tastier, thanks to the efforts of food scientists working out of a military-run laboratory in Natick, Mass. Recent innovations include pizza that can survive six months in storage at 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Many who covet old rations say they’re drawn by the novelty.

“Edible? Yes. Delicious? Not usually," said Sebastian Macoto, a hospital worker whose collection includes Vietnam War-era cigarettes and coffee from World War II. “But there’s always a rush when you see a ration pop up that you’ve been looking for."

Jeremy Spell says MREs have helped him learn more about the world. He has eaten meals from France, Russia, China and Indonesia. “Each country has a different twist," said Spell, who works in park operations in northern Michigan. One recent favorite? Chicken chakhokhbili from the Republic of Georgia.

“It was delicious," he said. “It’s something that I would have never thought to make."

Other countries put their own spin on military meals. French rations—widely considered the tastiest—include gourmet offerings like duck confit cassoulet and pork cheek ravioli. Italian rations include a shot of cappuccino and 300 milliliters of liquor—for breakfast. One Norwegian ration contains reindeer casserole. (“Tasted like beef, but gamey," said Macoto.)

Some prize MREs for practicality.

“They’re really good for taking to work," said Amelié Hewlett, a 19-year-old software engineer from the U.K. “You can just empty the pouch onto a plate, microwave it for two minutes, and then you’ve got lunch or dinner."

Military rations tend to wind up on the open market when countries overproduce meal kits and suppliers sell the surplus to individuals or online stores. Newer American rations sell for as little as $5 a meal but a Cold War dinner might cost hundreds.

Shawn Cox was preparing to take his children camping when he remembered the lightweight, calorie-dense MREs he ate in the 1990s while training to join the Marine Corps Reserve.

He looked for rations online and found a site called mreinfo.com where hundreds of enthusiasts collect and trade them.

The verdict? “Not terrible by any means," said Cox. His children love them, but more for the mystery than the taste. Everyone despised the vomlette.

Sebastian Macoto’s collection of rations includes samples from the Republic of Georgia.

Ration-collecting isn’t without risk. Abernathy threw up for two days from chicken pesto pasta, not yet expired, from a U.S. MRE.

The chance of contracting a foodborne pathogen from U.S. MREs is low, said Benjamin Chapman, a microbiologist and professor of food safety at North Carolina State University. The U.S. military requires all MREs to be sterilized after sealing.

But if rations were improperly manufactured or stored, all bets are off. Eaters risk diarrhea, vomiting and, in extreme cases, paralysis induced by botulism. Chapman recommends inspecting packaging carefully before eating. “If they were safely made in the late 1960s," he said, “time is not going to influence whether they’re less safe now."

The military has embraced the civilian enthusiasts.

“We had no problem with it, and liked the publicity," said Stephen Moody, who led the U.S. Army’s combat feeding division for eight years. “I would encourage them to look beyond the rations themselves and realize what’s gone into making it possible to have a food that lasts as long as it does and still tastes relatively good."