With an average of 1,250 calories, the MREs (Meal, Ready-to-Eat) U.S. soldiers consume are long on substance and short nearly everywhere else.
That’s not just uninformed speculation as your humble correspondent has actually sampled one of the meals at West Point a ways back. Suffice it to say, hot sauce required.
But as NYC-based chef Chuck George, photographer Henry Hargreaves and videographer Jimmy Pham demonstrate, as ugly as they are to the palate, MREs can really appeal to the eye.
For their From MRE to Michelin project, George — who grew up the son of a serviceman — unpacks kits from around the globe and plates them like Michelin-star meals.
The video not only shows that presentation is everything, but also offers a glimpse at what armies across the globe feed their troops. The video includes ready-to-eat offerings from the U.S., Russia, China and Lithuania. The results, as you can see in the video above, are surprisingly appetizing.
“In respect to servicemen and women across the globe we wanted to take meals and elevate them to Michelin Star quality,” the trio says on the project. ”In essence taking some of the most unappetizing food, that’s given to the bravest people and making it look fit for the nation’s leader.”
Ten-huts all around.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
