Turkish Soldier's Menu

[Tosun Saral]

Daily Menu of the Turkish Soldier: 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 43th Infantry Regiment.

Date- Breakfast- noon- Dinner- Bread
June 15th 1917: Dried Grapes compost- non- wheat soup- A loaf
June 26th 1917: non- non- Dried grapes compost- A loaf
July 18th 1917: Dried grapes compost- non- non- A half loaf
Aug.9th 1917: a half loaf- non- dried grapes compost without sugar

According to the army order the breat ratio is decreased to 500 gr.

Those who killed in all fronts during WW1 may all rest in peace. The survivers of WW1 continued fighting another 5 years againts the invading Greek Armies supported by all material of British in their homeland under the command of Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Ataturk) They lost a huge empire but established a Modern Republic that gives peace to all friends and that scares all enemies.

[Chavusch]

I remember my first 4 mount in basic boot camp in 1973 , we eat first 30 days as lunch and dinner only well cooked green beens , lunch cooked with little minced meat and rice plus dry fruit compot , at dinner cooked by olive oli and was cold w.o meet , morning breakfast was very skiny too , minly a little jam or marmaled and black olives , yellish colored tea-milk mix...and total daily bread rations was totaly 500 gr bleached salty flour loafs! following 3 mounth which is after helding the famous Oath to Death ceromonial we accepted as Turkish Soldier! rations a little leveled to rich 2300 calories diet ..but always simple goods, a lot dried beans and etc...always fruit compot.....after completion Seargent course which makes total 6 months join the jump school ..oh man was dream over there every morning blood oranges, chocolate bars, sun side up eggs! .....well after 2 mounth reciving the wing badge on the rBattle unit < Bolu Komando Brigade Air Cavalry Battalion >Torture diet star again only 2500 - 2700 daily calories smal but protein full ration ..never luxury, fancy but enough to keep the the body and soul well, I remember those days that joint forces Nato games, US and German soldiers always try to come near to Turkish field kitchens .< wherever Turkish units, there are always fresh and pot cooked meals , 4-5 foot deep broil pits to make nice crack pots ,<< we do not have like their chemical packed diets ..or kind a junk foods sometimes ok for canned goods such as thune fish , beans .>> .and shared with us fresh cooked daily goods..such beatyfull hot soups in snowy winters of Anatolian praries and yummy cool fruit compots in Tracy`s hell hot summers...along the Greek and Bulgarian borders.

Those 1000`s of years custom stuf make Turk soldier always battle ready.

[Tosun Saral]

During the Winter war of WW2 againts Russians German armies suffered also nutrition problems. Inonu the President of Turkish Republic offered dried fruids like grapes,plumps, apricots to von Papen the Ambassador of Germany in Ankara who was one of his comrades of WW1. Germany imported dried fruids from Turkey that saved the lives of thousands of german soldiers. Dried fruids give strengt in winter and in summer.

[Sewer King]

Germany imported dried fruids from Turkey that saved the lives of thousands of german soldiers. Dried fruids give strengt in winter and in summer.

Military rations always start with the basic staples of the country, and dried fruit goes back to ancient times as portable condensed food. But I never considered where wartime Germany would have gotten much of the dried fruits in their rations, such as those of the Nahkampfpacken (Close Combat packet). You see some photos of German troops happy to eat fresh fruit in southern Russia when they could get it, but this of course was not always a steady supply.

... always fruit compot ... US and German soldiers always try to come near to Turkish field kitchens .< wherever Turkish units, there are always fresh and pot cooked meals , 4-5 foot deep broil pits to make nice crack pots ,<< we do not have like their chemical packed diets ..

This I can picture! An Iraqi Kurdish veteran of Saddam's army of the 1970s told me something similar in his experience eating in the army and later when he settled in the US. There was a good solid pride in making delicious meals out of simple and fresh ingredients, and he wondered how can Americans eat what they do?

His wife worked with me as a construction inspector. I always looked forward to taking lunch break at her house if we worked nearby, just like US/FRG troops smelling what comes from a Turkish field kitchen.

Historically I thought Turkish troops tended to have older equipment compared to US/northern European NATO forces, but the food sounds superior to me. In another thread (Turkish forces in Korea) I asked how they ate today and now I have some idea.

As a standard dish, I usually associated fruit compote with Russian garrison and field mess. I am a little surprised not to hear more about rice in this (as compared to Arab and Irani foods, where you cannot go without), but in basic Turkish dishes I am much more ignorant. A Cypriot once gave me an unforgettable introduction to the drink of raki, however.

[Chavusch]

I still remember 1974 Cyprus rations of the first week ....it was disaster!!! they supplied us only some Peksimet < Dry bread> dry Figs and air dryed Sucuk ..< Soujhuk> ..kind of a hard textured ,very salty , mild paprika dominated mix spices beef+water buffolo+lamb mixture garlic sausiges ...in that high humidty summer 42 Celcius hell hot July days !! plus lack of fresh water supply but only tree fresh Oranges ..almost every one got sick! ...

2.nd battalion of the 1st Para brigade personnel they just teared off the seaming stiches of their battle trousers butt part !! just be ready to unexpected body reactions in the middle of battle stress !!...... u know what I mean ..