Canteen System Assistance Notes

Chapter 407: Tomorrow in Thought

An interesting incident in the Indian Ocean might be recorded in the naval histories of at least three countries in the future, but for China at that moment, it was barely a side story. The sea, the artillery battles, and the Japanese brothels were all too distant for the farmers working the fields. For them, the crops thriving in the fields were their lifeblood, their treasures.

After all, no matter how much the Eighth Route Army might invent on its own small piece of land, China is still an undeniably agricultural country. Organizing effective grain production and collection and transportation must be the primary task of a competent government.

In the original history, among the vast base areas in North China, in terms of grain production, the base areas of the four provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan were undoubtedly the top students, while the border areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, which were trapped in poor conditions and had poor people, were not even ranked.

The deeply ravines of the Loess Plateau and the drought-scarce climate here were unsuitable for growing crops. Even in 1939, the first peak in grain production after the Communist takeover, total grain production capacity was only 105,000 tons. Furthermore, from 1944 to 1941, the 359th Brigade's deployment to the border areas resulted in an increase in the number of unemployed personnel. Furthermore, the production of preserved fruits cut off access to military pay and foreign exchange to the border areas. These two factors combined to create a serious financial crisis in the border areas. With a total grain production capacity of 87,300 tons, the border areas were forced to increase their total public grain tax to 12,000 tons, equivalent to an agricultural tax of 13.85%. While this rate was much more moderate than the 30-year advance collection of preserved fruits next door, farmers still complained of the increased tax burden, calling it "a thunderbolt for Li Desheng."

Under such poor food production capacity, the troops in the border areas had to stop their off-duty training and launch a mass production campaign to achieve self-sufficiency, not to mention adjusting food standards.

So, in turn, in this time and space, when the total grain production capacity of the border area + the Huinong area reached 123,000 tons in 1937, the mood of the central leaders was like taking a hot bath after a hard day's work, and drinking a cup of iced cola in the hot and humid weather, and they were extremely happy. With the continued development, the total grain production capacity in 1938 successfully climbed to 150,000 tons, and in 1939, with the help of water conservancy, the total grain production capacity reached 150,000 tons.

With the help of the "Four Great Kings" of agricultural machinery, fertilizers and pesticides, the

It reached 24.2 tons.

This should have been the limit of the border region. Even though the Huinong area still had considerable potential, not all of the land could be used to grow grain; cash crops like cotton and industrial needs also needed to be considered. However, it was at this time that the Chiang Kai-shek army launched the February Incident. After a brilliant defensive counterattack, the Eighth Route Army gained control of the vast Ning Province Plain, stretching from Huinong in the north to Qingtongxia in the south, and the Guanzhong Plain, stretching from Chencang and Fengxiang in the east to Dali and Huazhou in the west, thus adding a large amount of farmland.

The Ningxia plains, with their sparse population and abundant land, and relatively simple land relations, were the first to embrace the Eighth Route Army's three-pronged approach of land reform, water conservancy, and large-scale agriculture. The rushing Yellow River flowed through partially restored agricultural canals into once-dry farmland, creating abundant irrigated land. Agricultural machinery powered by pot-carriers and hot-bulb machines compensated for some labor shortages. Pesticides and fertilizers provided by Huinong Synthetic Ammonia and the Dingyan Chemical Industry Zone mitigated other factors contributing to declining grain production. All these production factors were integrated into the rural cooperative system, ensuring their operation as orderly as possible. The result was that by 1940, even as the reform was still underway, this former core area of ​​the Western Xia Kingdom had already provided the Eighth Route Army with a full 35 tons of wheat.

As for the liberated areas in Guanzhong, although the land is fertile, the land ownership is complicated due to the large population and limited land. It will take a lot of effort to clarify the many production relations.

It would take at least until the spring planting of 42 to complete the land reform work.

Even so, this ancient Qin land truly lived up to its reputation as the cradle of the first feudal dynasty. Even after implementing initial policies to reduce rent and interest and encourage production, it still produced 90 tons of grain, and even added 4.1 tons of cotton and around 5 tons of oilseed crops.

These explosive grain outputs, coupled with the inherent production capacity of about 25 tons in the border area and Huinong District, after the summer and autumn harvests in 1940, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, which had once been short of production capacity, suddenly discovered that the liberated areas under its jurisdiction now had a grain production capacity of nearly 150 million tons.

This does not even take into account the trade and supply capabilities of the canteen system.

With this report, many leaders, including the Chairman, finally felt a sense of peace of mind. With this food supply, even without the support of the canteen system, the border region could support a sufficient number of full-time troops to achieve the goal of "field militaryization" and, in the near future, break the strategic stalemate and launch a strategic counterattack on a wider battlefield.

Since the border region's autonomous Guanghua currency had officially switched from a fixed exchange rate with the legal tender after the February Incident, and instead adopted a floating exchange rate, the Eighth Route Army officially gained control of the region's coinage. The central government could use Guanghua currency to purchase a significant portion of the required grain, using a method known as "collecting a low percentage of public grain and using its own currency to purchase grain."

This model worked as follows: Border region governments collected approximately 2% of farmland output as public grain as part of farmers' agricultural tax. They then purchased a certain amount of grain from farmers, using Guanghua currency, at the border region's internal grain price. This percentage was determined based on local production structures, local living conditions, and financial burdens, fluctuating between 0% and 20%. If needed for combat, famine relief, or other purposes, additional grain would be purchased at a premium.

At the same time, the four major commercial systems, capable of reaching rural towns, provided a rich variety of necessities, consumer goods, and means of production, enabling farmers to use the border region's Guanghua currency to purchase seeds, cloth, grain, and daily necessities. This system, which tied grain to the creditworthiness of the border region's currency and leveraged the region's increasingly robust industrial productivity and the supply capacity of the canteen system, was a groundbreaking attempt to open up monetary circulation in rural areas.

You know, farmers in old China were extremely reluctant to sell their surplus grain!

Although most of the time, it is impossible for Chinese farmers to store grain.

But amid this three-pronged reform, some people finally began to open their eyes, having long focused on the land and their hoes, and began to slowly calculate how much Guanghua currency they would receive from this year's grain purchases and how to spend it appropriately. Furthermore, should they sell more to the government in exchange for more colorful "paper"?

Should I buy a new iron hoe, a better cotton-padded jacket for my family, or perhaps follow the village secretary's advice and join the village cooperative, hire the agricultural machinery company and the geodesy service team, and try out the "machine farming" that sounds like a fairy tale in the village of Seventh Uncle and Eighth Uncle?

Anyway, as long as we have our own soldiers and government, those landlords, bullies and tax collectors from the Party and the government will not be able to come back.

In the spring of 1941, they, who always seemed to be concerned only with the present, finally began to think about their future.

Chapter 408 New Food Notes (1) Spicy and Spicy

There was a joke about ancient Greece and Rome: "Philosophy is the musings after dinner." The gist of it is that great philosophy was primarily born from the after-dinner speculation and musings of philosophers. While this is a bit of a joke, it does point out that a product of thought like philosophy truly requires a solid material foundation: a full stomach.

This is true for philosophy, and it is also true for military training - meals with sufficient calories and comprehensive nutrition can not only improve the soldiers' physical fitness, but also make their minds more flexible, and even be equivalent to half an excellent political commissar: Forgive you for being the essence of the party and the country, or being Chiang Kai-shek's direct line, but even after being surrounded by tens of millions of troops, they will still succumb to the magic of pork stewed with vermicelli and green onion pork buns.

Therefore, in view of the strong support provided by the border areas, major bases and canteen systems in terms of food, after discussion by the Central Military Commission and approval by the Central Standing Committee,

The Eighth Route Army began preparing to implement a new set of logistics from March 1941

Supply standards.

The new 1941 version of the supply standards, revised from the 1937 version, adhered to the "small steps, quick progress" model of incremental growth, with pilot implementation prioritized for combat units. This time, the central government adopted the fashionable calorie calculation method to calibrate total food allowances. Drawing on the practices of major industrial nations, two supply standards were established: "training portions" and "combat portions."

Among them, a "training portion" ration suitable for daily stationing and training life includes 750g of staple foods such as rice and flour, 650g of various fruits and vegetables (including plant proteins such as tofu), 50g of pork or other meat products that can provide equal amounts of nutrients, 25g of oil composed of vegetable oil and animal oil, and 10g of salt.

This part is basically based on the improvement and strengthening of the original supply standards. What is different from history is that the new version of the food standard also provides each soldier with one egg (about 50g) and two milk candies (about 10g) every day.

Without taking into account "odds and ends" such as seasonings, cigarettes, and tea, this supply standard could provide soldiers with about 3200 calories a day. This standard may not seem like much, and even the meat supply level is lower than that of Japan in 1938. However, compared with the previous food standard, it has increased the protein supply by three times, and it is much higher than that of the National Army. More importantly,

This is a journey from the border areas to the major bases, which can be achieved without much

Rely on the canteen system based on self-reliance to ensure the implementation of standards.

而在新兵入伍整训、部队作战时，"作训份将被替换为"作战份”。在这个标准下，每个战士一天的饮食将包括80Qg主粮、650g瓜果菜、200g的肉类、10Qg的蛋类、50g的油脂和10g成盐-一统共大约4300卡路里。若是作战需求中有无法生火、连续奔袭、渗透穿插和高寒作战等特殊需求，41年标准还要求后勤部门通过配发携带干粮等方式将日功能提升到5000大卡以上。

Once this set of standards was put into trial operation, it was well received by the officers and soldiers, as well as the "happy troubles" of various grassroots units. The supplies guaranteed by the supply standards were delivered to the companies.

The materials sent out will not be finished dishes, but

Various food ingredients.

As the grassroots unit responsible for cooking, the workload of the company-level kitchen squads and quartermasters in various units has increased exponentially, and they have to work overtime to prepare a variety of meals. Even with the help of cooking equipment, when the situation is ample and there is no big worry about getting enough to eat, the officers and soldiers begin to think about "eating well": Well, comrades in the kitchen squad, now it's your turn to show your strength!

So, the chefs from all over the world began their battle.

Former cooks from the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, who retreated from Northeast China, often enjoyed pooling their rations and preparing generous portions in large pots. They would deep-fry kidney beans and eggplant, then add flavorful spices to the bottom of the pot, along with chunks of braised pork, beans, tomatoes, chili peppers, kohlrabi, and other vegetables. This simmered pot created a fragrant, tender, and delicious Northeastern stew. Whether it was simply adding wide noodles for a "meal-and-dish" meal or rice with kimchi, this generous and hearty dining routine ensured everyone devoured the pot.

The cooks in Shanxi Province were more interested in exploring the combination of noodles and various dishes. They preferred to receive white flour, and with the help of kirin arms, dough kneaders, and noodle machines, they mixed it with salt, eggs, buckwheat and sorghum flour, and other ingredients to create a variety of noodle dishes, such as malt noodles, sesame noodles, and pulled noodles. These were served with toppings like fried eggplant and pork, spicy shredded chicken, braised pork sauce, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Whenever the Shanxi Province kitchen team started cooking, all the soldiers would line up with their large soup bowls. A serving of soup, a colander of noodles, and a generous spoonful of toppings, and then they would devour the meal with relish. However, sometimes, when time was short, the kitchen team had to use a thick soup maker to make the broth for the noodles. At these times, the post-meal drill would be filled with complaints and lectures, such as "Why is the soup bland today?" and "You're lucky to have this! The Party has spoiled you!"

As for the comrades in the Sichuan Basin and the central provinces, their tastes were far more spicier. Many of these veteran cooks had served during the Long March. Although chili peppers were forbidden during those times due to food shortages and to prevent stagnation, pepper, ground Sichuan peppercorns, and chili flakes remained their favorite condiments when cooking. Whether it was boiled pork slices or small, tender pork, a spicy, numbing flavor was always present: after all, on the frigid battlefield, a can of slightly pungent, fiery broth was preferable to any prepared rations. They soon discovered hot pot base in the logistics warehouses—a block of frozen fat, spices, and salt that triggered a remarkable chemical reaction in the marching pot. Simply blanch or stir-fry the various side dishes, then stir-fry the main and accompanying ingredients with the rich, fragrant base to create a delicious, savory, and spicy hot pot.

However, this hot pot, made with hot pot base, received mixed reviews. Comrades from Sichuan felt it wasn't spicy enough, those from Hunan and Guizhou felt it was just the right amount of spicy, and the soldiers from Jiangxi felt it wasn't spicy at all. Meanwhile, the men from Shaanxi were frantically searching for their kettles, their throats blazing and their butts smoking.

It goes well with rice and is very filling, but why is it so spicy?

"Cooking crew! You two thieves! If you can get away with it, you two can run! You're so hot, if we catch you, we'll get the shit out of you!"

Chapter 409 New Food Notes (⑵) Adjusting the Whole Fruit

If you carefully look through photos from the Anti-Japanese War to the Liberation War, you'll likely spot images of soldiers from the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the People's Liberation Army eating fruit. In those days, when eating meat was considered a New Year's Eve, it's intuitively a bit unusual that our army, despite its difficult conditions, could still eat fruit.

However, this is indeed a true story in the history of the original time and space. As early as the Soviet period, our army realized the importance of balanced nutrition and dietary coordination; and after the Long March, the Eighth Route Army even organized a food experiment with a control group to popularize the importance of "scientific eating". The order of "no eating chili peppers" also came from this - when the staple food is not enough, eating spicy food on an empty stomach can easily irritate the stomach and intestines, leading to stomach pain, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal diseases.

It can be said that as long as conditions permit, our army will find ways to ensure that soldiers eat better and have a more balanced nutrition.

Among these, fruit was a great way to supplement soldiers with various vitamins. During the Huaihai Campaign of the War of Liberation, the field army's logistics department procured apples from the rear and shipped them to the front lines, allowing frontline soldiers to show off their apples while lavishing pork buns on Chiang Kai-shek's two major corps. Meanwhile, the fruit-munching Northeast Field Army spared no effort in the apple trees in Tuhe City, spreading the rumor that "the PLA doesn't eat apples."

This kind of eating and not eating may be a characteristic of this army.

In 1937, the year the canteen was first established, the Eighth Route Army, having completed its basic Soviet weaponry reorganization, began to receive a stable fruit supply. However, at the time, because the majority of foreign exchange (RMB) was used to promote industrial development and secure basic food supplies, the fruit supply to the troops and government agencies was low, and the variety was limited: approximately four portions per month for the troops and three per month for government agencies. These were apples and dates, common fruits in the ancient Qin Dynasty – fruits abundant in the Guanzhong Plain, making them easy to source.

During this period, the various fruits in the canteen system were only occasionally served as part of the meals for patients and heavy laborers, appearing at the bedsides of hospitals and in construction site canteens across the country as nutritional supplements for patients and workers. However, there was one exception: bananas. This tropical fruit, which was inexpensive, easy to transport, rich in nutrients, and could quickly increase blood sugar and potassium levels, "beared the brunt of the disaster" and was fed into the mouths of many veteran revolutionaries.

"Leave the green bananas and apples alone, and they will lose their green color and turn yellow. Peel off the yellow skin and eat the white part, and throw the remaining banana peels into the pond." Because the working groups and propaganda agencies of various departments were full of martial virtue at that time, everyone quickly learned how to eat this tropical southern Xinjiang fruit. The scenario of "not knowing how to eat it and end up eating it with the skin" that some future comrades imagined did not occur. Instead, many soldiers were reluctant to eat this rare thing and kept it in their bags for too long.

Things that cause bananas to turn black and rot.

The sweet, soft, and glutinous fruit of this plant, a member of the Musaceae family, quickly gained popularity. Rich in nutrients, it relieved the "heatiness" of spicy food and alleviated constipation common on the battlefield. It even contained a significant amount of starch to provide satiety. Furthermore, because the canteen system could directly purchase unripe green bananas for transportation, and because bananas were inexpensive in the modern commodity system, these bananas were widely distributed, becoming a staple of "military fruit" before 41. Group number for this book: 7751118:38

Besides eating bananas fresh, the Eighth Route Army's cooks also devised a host of other ways to prepare bananas. For example, they mashed bananas and added them to flatbread to create sweet and delicious banana "flying pancakes." They coated bananas in egg and bran to create calorie-packed fried bananas. Finally, they collected the bananas the soldiers were reluctant to eat, sliced ​​them, and dried them in the sun or oven to preserve them as dried bananas.

This can not only be used as a snack during marches and battles, but also as a gift to communicate the feelings between the military and civilians. It is very popular. Even members of the British Communist Party and the Scottish Communist Party working in the border areas like it very much. They all said that they may not be able to eat it in their hometowns now.

The only problem is that many cadres who have experience in Europe or overseas Chinese born in Southeast Asia occasionally complain that the Fushi bananas are bland and lack the rich banana flavor.

"Not right" - However, since there are actually not many

Although it is a real "enemy banana", no one has delved into this issue.

After more than two years of living on bananas, apples, and jujubes, the Eighth Route Army, with food supplies and financial resources now more abundant, began to consider trying something different. They found the cafeteria's control terminal and clicked on the "Fruit" section of the procurement system, hoping to find something to replace the "old three."

When these veterans clicked on the "*Fruit" section of the procurement system, the powerful control computer froze for a moment—and then they were greeted by a screen-filling list of purchases. Hundreds of purchase options scrolled down like a waterfall. The operator, using his finger to scroll the mouse wheel, struggled for over twenty seconds before finally reaching the bottom of the purchase order.

"Oh my goodness, how come these young people can eat so much..."

What had once been a simple meeting to determine the fruit selection quickly became a matter requiring extensive experimentation. Drawing on the experience of determining storable staple foods during the initial establishment of the canteen, the Military Commission selected a dozen or so companies and distributed a variety of fruits to each company, at a standard of 100 grams per person per day, for two weeks. Feedback from each company was then collected and summarized for analysis.

Given that the cafeteria's procurement system appears to have been based on the list of goods and prices available to universities nationwide in later generations, imported, inflated, or heavily marketed items like Chilean cherries and American avocados were initially eliminated from the selection process. This left a large selection of common fruits found on cafeteria and restaurant tables: oranges, cantaloupes, dragon fruit, grapefruits, and even a fair amount of pineapple.

While these items will be readily available and affordable in the future, they're not always easy to find right now. With a mixture of curiosity, nostalgia, and emotion, these fruits were mixed into the pilot unit's lunch, ultimately satisfying everyone's hunger.

Feedback came in quickly. The sweet and sour oranges were well received by everyone; the juicy cantaloupe was suitable for sharing with the whole class; the grapefruit, which could be broken into segments, was convenient for eating in the pocket, and the grapefruit peel could be processed to make tea; and the pineapple caused a few unlucky people to have "numb tongues from eating too much" - soon, the clever kitchen team invented the method of boiling pineapple slices in salt water and pineapple fried rice to solve this problem.

Instead, a joke occurred during the pitaya tasting session: due to procurement issues, the kitchen team of a certain company participating in the experiment received a batch of red pitaya. After enjoying the delicious food, the entire company suffered from severe gastrointestinal problems and collectively passed red stools. This frightened the commander of the regiment, who thought the entire company had contracted bacterial dysentery and immediately activated the emergency plan for dealing with infectious diseases and took the entire company away for isolation.

Finally, a comrade named Liu called and after a series of medical examinations, the group realized that it was a false alarm and a big joke.

-—―—―—―—

Ultimately, canteen-based fruit procurement and replenishment was split into two parts, catering to three different usage scenarios. The newly established Joint Logistics General Logistics Department would arrange for the purchase of "year-round fruit" and "seasonal fruit" based on the available food fund balances in local canteens.

The troops will maintain their year-round procurement of common fruits such as apples, bananas, oranges, and white (emphasis added) dragon fruit, and will increase their purchase proportion when fruits are in season and prices are low. For example, watermelon in the summer, sugarcane in the winter, and pineapple in the spring...

Different quality fruits were provided to cover three scenarios: "training in rear areas with canteens," "stationing in areas without canteens," and "marching and fighting." In each scenario, soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, as well as workers and students, could enjoy a weekly quota of approximately 200g of common fruit. Those stationed in the rear areas could occasionally enjoy rare fruits like lychees and mangoes.

Even in the later period, when the regular field armies of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army rushed out of the base area and engaged in external battles, the comrades in the kitchen squad could still magically pull out a slightly shriveled lemon and give it to the injured comrades as a snack. Of course, if the weather was hot and the fruit was going bad quickly, the kitchen squad would always knock on the spoon, deduct the entire company's fruit quota for the week, and solemnly announce:

"Comrades, it's so hot out here, the fruits are almost spoiling. It's not good to waste food! For this week's fruit quota, let's make banana stewed with watermelon, pineapple stewed with green peppers, grapes and corn, and cantaloupe stir-fried with bitter melon. Let's cook the fruits that are about to go bad!"

"grass!"

Chapter 410: New Food Notes (3) Canned Food

(The author has been on business trips in recent weeks, and the signal at the project site is poor, so updates may not be timely.)

Since the power of industry was added to food production, food production capacity has been advancing by leaps and bounds with the help of machinery, fertilizers, pesticides and large-scale production organization. It has even enabled a pure industrial country like the United States to mainly export agricultural products in international foreign trade and look like an agricultural country.

Similarly, the armies of these industrialized countries were able to enjoy the food supplies provided by their own developed industries - canned food. This food storage and preservation method invented by the Frenchman Nicolas Appert in the 19th century became a common memory for soldiers from various countries in World War II.

If you were to talk about the most famous canned foods from various countries during World War II, the Soviets would undoubtedly mention "Tusanka," stuffed with fatty pork, and canned, greasy, lard. These energy-rich, high-fat foods not only kept away the cold but also provided lighting. Americans would be divided into two camps: the Navy decrying the abominations of "tomato pudding," while the Army lambasted "Spam" for its unpalatable taste.

Of course, in this time and space, Americans have a few more things to complain about.

The British inevitably dragged the Italians into cursing the salty, tough canned Wei beef and the bland, often smelly "Bissolini's butt." The Germans would probably complain about the unknown contents of tin cans and the "pea soup" that looked like baby food. Even the Japanese, who were living a relatively good life, would probably, at the end of the war, miss the "Yamato boiled beef pot" from the early days of the invasion of China, when there was at least a lot of beef inside.

As for China, in fact, there is no opportunity to even reminisce, comment or even complain - before the Anti-Japanese War, China's domestic canned food production capacity was very weak, and most of its factories were located in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places, which were quickly occupied by the Japanese. After the Anti-Japanese War, with the influx of American aid materials, domestic canned food companies were also hit hard. It was not until the public-private partnership after the founding of the People's Republic of China that they gradually recovered.

But in this time and space, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army and even the People's Liberation Army later finally had the right to "criticize and pick and choose" canned food.

Mr. Liu Helian, a patriotic overseas Chinese in the border region, a renowned firearms designer and industrialist, one of the leaders of the "materials supply system," and a renowned international capitalist, had established factories in Yemen, New Zealand, and the United States, producing canned goods for the Allied forces under the Pandaria, Badajie, and Shanwei brands. Logically, since he always cared deeply about his motherland and supported the war of resistance, he would have shipped much of his canned goods back to China to feed the anti-Japanese troops.

However, due to the long distance, even if canned food is transported back to the country from the nearest Aden area, it must first be transferred to the Xinjiang border via the Middle East Railway and the Soviet Railway, and then transported through the Northwest Passage transport team to transport the supplies back to the border area over thousands of miles before it can be distributed to various troops.

This trip would have been a loss in economic terms. For this reason, many researchers later believed that the border areas actually did not receive a large amount of canned goods produced by China Resources.

However, since 1938, various bases and troops began to receive large quantities of canned food distributed by the central government. A large number of canned food were first carried by transport teams and distributed to various military sub-districts in Shanxi Province, and then spread to bases further east. Then, the bases in Shandong Province, Hubei-Henan-Anhui Base Area and Central Jiangsu Base Area also began to export a variety of canned food, with a full range of categories and large quantities - and these canned food

Almost all of them are "Pandaria", "Eight Streets" and "Shanwei".

It's definitely not called "Lin," "Long," "Zhu," or "Jinqian." Mr. Liu Helian abused his authority to modify the canned goods' packaging, counterfeiting his own products and putting them on domestic shelves. The "counterfeit" goods were of excellent quality, and the original owners wouldn't sue. The Party organization even helped conceal the canned goods' origins. Liu Helian, both plaintiff and defendant, took on this with no burden of guilt.

Unlike the retail cans most people are familiar with, the cans our troops choose are primarily large, fully sealed commercial cans without pull rings. These cans offer sturdy packaging, high cost-effectiveness, and often have a longer shelf life, making them more suitable for dining with multiple people.

For example, four common commercial canned vegetarian foods—classic mushroom soup, red kidney beans, baby corn, and lotus seed soup—are crucial supplies for many frontline combat troops, used to prepare dishes when vegetables are hard to come by. Five-kilogram cans of syrupy coconut, yellow peaches, strawberries, and lychees, along with other fruits from the canteen system, also grace the fruit plates at troop dinners.

As for the small cans of one pound, which are sealed in glass jars, they are mainly used as welfare products or prizes, and are distributed to workers, cadres, and students during festivals and put on the market. Among these products, canned yellow peaches are the most popular because they are more delicious than fresh fruits. These are actually sugared yellow peach slices produced in Shandong Province, Anhui Province, etc.

The slice quickly conquered all major bases with its rich and sweet taste.

soldiers and the masses. Back then, bringing a 4-pack of canned assorted fruit when visiting patients or pregnant women during the Chinese New Year was considered a very valuable gift.

Canned mixed fruits, with their "multiple fruits in one can" advantage, became an excellent souvenir for visiting relatives within the base. In its early days, they even replaced the perennially popular eight-treasure rice pudding as the preferred dessert for Fushi students. People of that era gradually came to believe that even the most awkward conflicts and holidays could not withstand the sweetness of these canned fruits, easily resolved by the adorable "rolling" painted on the cans.

As the oldest of canned foods, canned meat mainly exists in the form of finished or semi-finished dishes: various one-kilogram and two-kilogram pre-prepared dishes and various soft-canned meal packs gradually appeared in the reserve warehouses of various troops, and became the ingredients of the kitchen team when marching supplies were inconvenient.

In 1940, in addition to the regular canned foods such as "braised beef in red sauce", "fried pig's trotters" and "spicy chicken", the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army began to receive some new canned foods under the "Eight Street" brand. These cans were called "banquet cans" and were rare and precious. The troops could only eat them during major holidays such as the Chinese New Year or before a battle.

But it is this kind of canned food with small quantity and many fancy details that left a deep impression on many soldiers: the authentic Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, the spicy grilled fish with crispy meat and tender bones, and the banquet hot pot that almost includes everything... This canned dish that can be called a feast does not require complicated processing by the kitchen team. It only needs to be heated on the fire and then served on the table for the whole class to share.

These canned goods even fueled a booming black market for canned goods. At the time, long-lasting meats were often found only in the form of dried meat and pickled meat. As life improved, the people in the base areas inevitably sought to prepare for famine. These flavorful, beautifully packaged canned goods were a huge hit with locals everywhere.

The market-savvy kitchen staff would arrange advance notice with the entire company, intercept the canned goods, and then take them to the homes of local residents for barter. According to relevant data, the same weight of canned meat could often be traded for two to three times the amount of fresh meat, or more grain. During field operations, in some areas, the ratio could even reach 1.5:1. Canned food could even become hard currency in these areas, far more durable than legal tender, Central Bank notes, or Japanese military notes, and could even persuade a Japanese soldier to surrender his rifle and ammunition.

So apart from these "foreign aids", does the border region produce canned food on its own?

Of course, there were. After 1941, the Eighth Route Army's logistics units began to see "Shanwei" brand canned food produced in the Dingyan region. However, this type of canned food, which had "harmed" the US Army and Navy in the United States, was not produced in China. Instead, they used strangely coated tinplate to produce a variety of empty cans, then stuffed them with all sorts of things.

There were sterile bandages that had been sterilized, long-lasting cigarettes stuffed with filter cigarettes, emergency fuel stuffed with solid alcohol, and even some cans with skulls painted on them and the words "Poisonous! Do not eat!" - the contents were a 50g piece of high-energy plastic explosive. The Eighth Route Army engineers only had to insert a detonator into this piece of stuff that looked like plasticine or soap to turn this seemingly harmless can into a "world-shattering explosion."

Just from this perspective, this canned energy material is actually an "edible" thing for the enemy.

Chapter 411: National Weapons and National Products (3) An Evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek’s Military Rations

In 1941, the 30th year of the Republic of China, when the Eighth Route Army soldiers saved their rations, fruits and canned food to comfort the soldiers and their families and to help the farmers who were fleeing famine,

Chiang Kai-shek, who lived in his official residence in the mountain city of Huangshan, was also chewing on the new flavor of fresh food.

He was cutting crispy potatoes and approving the documents presented to him by the attendant's office.