People will never forget that during the 1960s and 1970s, the compressed rations developed by our military became all the rage, seemingly overnight becoming the “king” of fast food in the eyes of the Chinese people. At that time, people scrambled to buy a can of compressed ration, even pulling strings through military acquaintances. It is precisely this type of fast food, which may seem unsatisfactory by today’s standards, that gained international fame. Not long ago, a female entrepreneur from Malaysia approached a certain research institute under the Quartermaster Department of the General Logistics Department, requesting to purchase 761-type compressed rations for trade with Vietnamese businessmen. When researchers introduced her to the new generation of compressed rations, she kept shaking her head. She said that the Vietnamese people had tried Chinese fast food and found the 761-type compressed rations to be the most flavorful. This year, some African countries have also sought to purchase the militarily developed compressed rations through relevant channels.
According to senior officials from the Military Food Research Office of the Quartermaster Equipment Research Institute of the General Logistics Department: the canned food series developed by our military in the early stages also enjoyed great renown. In times of material scarcity, being able to eat a can of military canned food—even just a can of pickled vegetable—was no less satisfying than having a lavish meal today. Back then, sailors returning home with a few cans of military rations looked prouder than soldiers from other branches. Some children even secretly vowed to become sailors when they grew up because sailors got to eat canned food.
Director He, an expert in military food research, affirmed to reporters: military food must be fast food, but not all fast food qualifies as military food. The fast-food attribute is just one aspect of military food performance. In addition, military food also includes nutritional structure, taste, consecutive acceptability and portability, safety performance, shelf life, and more.
Aside from the instant noodles specially developed for the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, Director He summarized China’s military food research into “three generations”: the first generation was field food. It consisted of three main staples—compressed rations, dehydrated noodles, and dehydrated rice—and three side dishes—canned luncheon meat, canned mixed meat stir-fry, and canned diced pork in soy sauce. By this period, military food had already formed a structure of pairing main and side dishes. The second generation was the land service series of field food, such as dehydrated rice. Soft-packaged canned food and dehydrated rice, staples in China’s fast food, were pioneering developments by our military domestically. These foods are essentially concentrated versions of soldiers’ meals, containing rice, dishes, and soup—perfectly suiting the eating habits of troops. Today, our military’s food research has entered the third generation. A new type of “instant noodles” has been launched, not only tasting better than civilian instant noodles but also able to be prepared with either hot or cold water. Its convenience has won global acclaim. This noodle product has obtained two national invention patents. Meanwhile, our military’s instant rice has also been successfully developed and will be gradually deployed to troops.
The packaging and heating method for this instant rice is extraordinarily unique: it comes in a zippered food bag. After adding boiling water, within minutes it becomes a typical Chinese-style fast meal when paired with complementary side dishes and soup. Additionally, to cater to Chinese people’s preference for hot food, a small, lightweight, and highly efficient flameless automatic heater has been developed alongside the instant rice. It will soon enter industrial production.
Meeting Chinese dietary habits—military fast food overcomes two global challenges
As is well known, there is a fundamental difference between Chinese and Western eating habits. For example, the U.S. military’s bread, cheese, jam, and butter are both convenient fast food and highly nutritious. But simply copying them would not work for us. Because China’s diet is primarily starch-based, with meals emphasizing color, aroma, and flavor—this is fundamentally different from the Western diet, which is protein- and fat-based. No matter how nutritious food is, if it’s unappetizing or unwanted, its value is lost. Therefore, considering that southerners prefer rice and northerners prefer wheat-based foods, developing Chinese military fast food must take these two fundamental factors into account.
However, rice and wheat flour are starch-based foods. Their biggest issue is that under certain moisture conditions, they turn “raw” after being left for a while—a professional term referred to as “retrogradation.” Retrograded starch foods not only lose their nutritional value but also their normal texture. Starch retrogradation is an international challenge, and no country in the world has yet resolved it. Since Western diets contain fewer starch foods, the issue of starch retrogradation is less prominent, but for us researching military fast food, it is an unavoidable problem. There was a time when generation after generation of military food scientists worked tirelessly to solve this issue. They eventually found an effective way to preserve starch foods through dehydration via an indirect approach. Nowadays, the instant rice and instant noodles on the market are products of this achievement. In 1999, military researchers collaborated with Wuxi Light Industry University to delve deeper into the mechanism of starch retrogradation and discovered a more advanced solution to the problem. It is foreseeable that in the near future, rice and noodle canned goods that meet military requirements and do not “retrograde” for long periods will become the main food items on our military’s “canned battlefield.” The successful development of these varieties will also push civilian fast food
to a new level.
The second global challenge encountered in the research of military fast food, as told by a retired senior engineer from the General Logistics Department’s Quartermaster Food Research Institute, is the crispness of vegetable cans. Those familiar with canning processes know that once vegetable cans are sterilized, they become mushy and flavorless. Eating such canned food feels like chewing sponge—utterly lacking in crispness. One way to improve crispness is to reduce sterilization intensity, but doing so affects the shelf life of the can. To resolve this contradiction, after many trials, they finally selected a new type of antibacterial agent and developed vegetable cans with good crispness. After being taste-tested by troops, the soldiers gave a thumbs-up, with over 90% approval for the taste.
High nutritional value—military fast food ranks top among the world’s fast food
One of the most significant distinctions between military fast food and civilian fast food is its strong emphasis on nutritional value. Under field conditions, the physical workload of soldiers is immense. An individual engaged in heavy military labor consumes about 4,000 calories per day. The energy provided by military fast food must reach 4,000 calories to compensate for this consumption; otherwise, it could result in an energy deficit, affecting regular training. While ensuring basic energy supply, the provision of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals is also strengthened. Therefore, military fast food is absolutely not just a simple filler—it is a carefully designed food with a rational nutritional structure. In an era of frequent counterfeit and substandard food, military fast food has maintained a high reputation in society, which is inseparable from its scientific design and thoughtfully formulated recipes.
It is worth mentioning that the nutritional functionality of our military’s food has now reached a considerable level, with a “fast food” pattern of diverse varieties and multiple nutrients gradually forming. As the complexity and difficulty of future military operations increase, developing military fast food with special functional properties has become a direction for our military’s food research. Currently, in the area of nutritional research for military food, our military is striving to reach the world’s leading level.
Long shelf life—military fast food sets the highest record in the “kingdom” of fast food
A very unique requirement of military fast food is that the longer the shelf life, the better. This is determined by the special nature of military food supply. Each batch of factory-produced products undergoes several transfers, sometimes traveling thousands of kilometers, and takes anywhere from a few months to a full year to reach the end user. Therefore, the requirements for shelf life are exceptionally strict.
Take the compressed rations developed by our military, for example. Their shelf life is remarkably long. To extend the shelf life of compressed rations, researchers have gone to great lengths. Compressed rations are high-fat products, and the main factor causing spoilage is oxidative rancidity. To avoid this, production uses oxidation-resistant palm oil, adds antioxidants, employs oxygen-extracted and nitrogen-filled tin can packaging, and finally seals it with soldering.
Instant rice is a food that is not easy to store. Currently, the shelf life of civilian fast food is generally around six months. The spoilage of instant rice is mainly due to the oils in the dried rice grains, which produce a rancid smell over time. To solve the storage problem of instant rice, researchers conducted repeated tests during its development, setting up multiple barriers like floodgates, ultimately achieving the goal of long-term storage.
Other military fast foods of our army, such as canned food, instant noodles, etc., are also the undisputed longest-shelf-life fast foods domestically.
Social demand—when will military fast food “transition to civilian use”?
Undoubtedly, compared to domestic fast food, military food leads the way in convenience, taste, nutrition, and shelf life, making it the natural leader of domestic fast food. Looking ahead, military food will undoubtedly lead the trend of Chinese fast food.
In the future, with the development of China’s market economy and the acceleration of people’s pace of life, the potential fast food market will continue to grow. The military-developed instant rice, military instant noodles, compressed rations, rice porridge cans, soft canned rice, soft canned noodles, instant soup, and self-heating food all have broad market potential.