What did Italian soldiers eat?

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carolwmahs
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What did Italian soldiers eat?

#1

Post by carolwmahs » 21 Mar 2006, 17:59

I know it varied by theater, but was food quality better than the Germans? With such a rich history of fine cuisine, I'd think expectations among Italian soldiers for adequate rations would have been high.

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Lupo Solitario
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#2

Post by Lupo Solitario » 21 Mar 2006, 18:39

usually bad. There's a lot of anedoctes, we could isolate some general trend:

-too much distance between kitchens and troops, meal on frontline arrived always cold (in Russia and Albania breezed)

-lack of organization, italian field kitchen in the desert were built to use...wood as fuel

-lack of honesty, a lot of stuff destined to soldiers took always other directions

-huge distance between officers and troops: they ate always different food on separate sides

Troops tried always to self-organize. Rigoni Stern narrates as alpine troops on Don river reached to self-cook the "polenta", one of the most appreciated meals by mountain soldiers. That's overall in Russia where was possible finding food on territory.

In North Africa dependance by logistic chain was total (and steal in stores frequent).

About what kind of food, italian troop food was based on the usual national diet with large use of pasta (quite always maccheroni, nicknamed "tubes" by troops) and canned meat and vegetables. Distribution of wine was frequent as much as possible. In particular conditions, it was distributed cognac.

Late, a consideration: also if italy is known for the high quality of food, the italian average WWII soldier was a poor man customed to eat what and when possible and certainly not a gourmet...


carolwmahs
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#3

Post by carolwmahs » 22 Mar 2006, 02:24

Thanks for the reply!

varjag
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Re: What did Italian soldiers eat?

#4

Post by varjag » 26 Mar 2006, 12:58

carolwmahs wrote:I know it varied by theater, but was food quality better than the Germans? With such a rich history of fine cuisine, I'd think expectations among Italian soldiers for adequate rations would have been high.
I think note should be taken of Lupo's last sentence. Italian cuisine did not attract much attention or admiration until
well after WW 2.....Varjag

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Dieter
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#5

Post by Dieter » 28 Mar 2006, 22:25

My mother was a Greek civilian on the ionian island of Cephalonia during the Italian occupation; your inquiry of Italian soldier's rations reminded me of something she informed me of as regards to the Italians and food.
"The Italian officers behaved like gentlemen, even the fascisti, and would walk down the street greeting people with "good morning" and "how are you today", and were generally very pleasant to the Greek population. Italian soldiers very often would share their bread and chocolates with the children in our village".
The Italians felt very much "at home" in Greece, and with the Greek people, even in time of war. They were apologetic for being there, but made it clear that they were "doing their job". It is a very honorable fact that the Italians were known not for killing, but a disgraceful fact is that they were very well known for stealing.

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Christian W.
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#6

Post by Christian W. » 11 Apr 2006, 01:21

What about the navy?

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Von Lerner
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#7

Post by Von Lerner » 29 Apr 2006, 12:09

Christian W. wrote:What about the navy?
I don't think you want to know.

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Christian W.
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#8

Post by Christian W. » 29 Apr 2006, 17:36

Perhaps I do?

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Von Lerner
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#9

Post by Von Lerner » 29 Apr 2006, 19:04

Christian W. wrote:Perhaps I do?
I don't think you want to know what the enlisted men ate. But, since the Italian Navy (Regia Marina) never really went on long expeditions their officer food was OK. This is because they never really had to ration crap food since they could stop at a nearby friendly port and restock. The Italian Officers didn't get an english breakfast everyday but things like pasta (in moderate amounts), macro. (their main type of pasta), fish (anything which swims, anything), bread and olive oil + vinger (Their bulk) was their ususal diet. However, rice was actually a rarity ussally reserved for brass since cooking was quite hard to do and painstaking.

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Mait
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#10

Post by Mait » 29 Apr 2006, 23:44

Hello.

There is a nice site about Italian military rations:

http://17thdivision.tripod.com/charlott ... /id26.html

Some data about Japanese and German ones too.

Best Regards,

Mait.

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