Michael McHenry Speaking On "An Army Marches On Its Stomach"

“An Army Marches on its Stomach”— Napoleon and many other commanders know this to be true. How and what an army feeds its troops, and how those troops perceive the quality of their rations, translates into morale and motivation. In his talk, McHenry will take a brief look at basic dietary requirements of troops in various environments and explore the challenges of feeding troops in the field. Likewise, he’ll trace advances in U.S. military field rations over the last century, from a baseline during the Spanish-American War (1898) and World War I through World War II; then from World War II to Vietnam; and finally, the Gulf War (1990-1) through Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11. He’ll also examine technical and culinary innovations—from ingeniously simple to more complex—that are now part of our culinary landscape after their development in military rations, from hardtack, slumgullion, MREs and HDRs. McHenry has degrees in History and English Literature, Foreign Service (Middle Eastern Studies and Low-Intensity Conflict), and National Security Strategy. He spent much of his career on Middle East security issues, including supporting military field operations. Michael is also a cook. He has taken classes at the Culinary Institute of America and assisted chef/instructors in cooking classes in the Washington area. He is a member of CHoW and of La Chaine des Rotisseurs and a docent at the National Museum of American History. This is a free event and no reservation is necessary to attend. The event is from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for more information, contact Claudia Kousoulas, 202-487-6740, email [email protected] or click here.