"Natick lab strives for durable, delicious military rations" by Nidhi Subbaraman
Military recruits develop extreme survival skills, and the food they eat must be equally hardy. Before it is opened up at dinner time, each “Meal, Ready-to-Eat” package — or MRE — has probably been air-dropped from a plane and survived months in blazing heat or freezing cold.
I hope some kid in Lebanon or Afghanistan didn't mistake a cluster bomb for it.
When troops dig into their grilled beef patties or lemon pepper tuna, they have Lauren Oleksyk to thank. She is the team leader of the food science lab at the Natick research center, the Army’s sole incubator for food innovation since 1953.
My war paper served me breakfast from from the Army kitchen.
Oleksyk’s mission for the last three decades has been to create menus with variety that withstand the toughest conditions — six months at temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, three years without refrigeration — while also being delicious.
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In 2014, the Department of Defense approved funding for Oleksyk’s latest obsession: 3-D printing.
How can you eat that?
“The applications are just endless,” she said. “With the development of high-speed printers, it’s just going to expand even more.”
Is it going to print edible food or.... is this just one more way to funnel money to the well-connected cla$$?
Oleksyk’s team is exploring a partnership with the MIT Lincoln Labs, where researchers are investigating the viability of 3-D food printing, starting with baby food. (Because it starts out mushy, baby food is a natural trial substance.)
Well, I can give you the taste test results right now!
3D Systems, a company that has designed a printer for printing intricate sugar confections and is designing a high-speed food printer, is another potential collaborator.
But they will need a few key additions, Oleksyk explained — anything on the menu for an individual military ration typically requires an extra processing step to make sure the food lasts a long while. A research collaboration with 3D Systems will retrofit rapid 3-D food printers with another step to make the printed food last longer, giving it an extra-long shelf life.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, NASA has sidled up as a potential collaborator on Oleksyk’s project. Its vision? 3-D printing could sustain future manned missions.
It makes sense, Oleksyk said. “They also have shelf-life requirements like we do. They also have size constraints like we do. Their printers will also need to be small and compact.”
No freezers in space.
All the problems we have down here.... sigh.
But they do have issues that the Army is less apt to worry about. “Their concern is, as the food is printed on the plate, will it stick or float away?” Oleksyk said.
Another project that has NASA’s attention is a shrinking technology that Oleksyk is developing with a company in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Creative Resonance has patented a way to create food bars without the sugary binders and preservatives that go into grocery store fruit bars.
Okay, that certainly caught my attention. It means those healthy treats you are getting at the store so you can avoid obesity are full of unhealthy fillers -- but they do make record wai$tlines for corporations, if you know what I mean.
It involves slamming a food product with high-frequency sound waves to shake it free of water, then “welding” it into a slab half its size.
That's for breakfast?
Oleksyk has samples: A fruit-and-nut bar, something that looks like a coffee- mocha bar, and a solid chunk of chile con carne. Just add water, and they bounce back into shape.
NASA is interested in this technology to feed a mission to Mars — but first, the soldiers will decide if it tastes good enough.
I think you know what I think (as blog editor spits).
--more--"
I pa$$ed on it today, readers, and for good reason. I'll see how much energy I have for this day in-between snow removal.
NDUs:
"For food truck owners, it’s all about location" by Callum Borchers, Globe Staff January 21, 2015
Boston’s food truck vendors are 10 weeks from opening for the season, but they already have some idea of where they’ll be hawking their wood-fire pizza, fish tacos, and other moveable feasts.
The city held its annual food truck lottery to assign sales locations on public ways Tuesday evening at Faneuil Hall. Some 22 locations around the city were made available for food trucks, with each location divided into different time slots — breakfast or lunch, for example.
Altogether, 351 time slots were raffled off during a long and tedious process. The available spaces did not include some of the popular food truck spots in the city — those on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which the nonprofit Greenway Conservancy awards separately.
As in sports, a high draft pick can be a big win. A primo spot can mean getting to park within sniffing distance of thousands of hungry people. But with food purveyors planning to roll out 81 trucks this year — 23 more than last year — the odds of landing a top selection weren’t great. While the city has not capped the number of licenses it issues, it does limit the number of trucks that can sell in one place at any given time.
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The Boston food truck scene has exploded since 2011, when there were just three mobile meal providers on the road, according to the city’s Office of Food Initiatives. The growth means an increasingly wide selection for on-the-go diners. Available dishes now go far beyond hot dogs and hamburgers to include barbecued lamb, seafood, waffles, and pasta.
But some food trucks have learned not to bank on the city-offered locations.
“If you’re relying on the lottery for your business, you’re in deep trouble,” said Bryan Peugh, owner of Baja Taco Truck....
--more--"
You can feast as much as you want on the dud of a storm (that unfurled largely as scripted?) after all the fear was plowed at you. I'm going to coast through it.
Felt like you were under siege, didn't it? Funny how they can't predict tomorrow but know with such certainty the next 100 years, huh?
One thing I do know: If I were a business shut down by the scare I would be furious.
And speaking of snow jobs:
Surgeon slain, gunman found dead in day of crisis at Brigham
Once may have believed it before the endless stream of staged and scripted psyop hoaxes the past couple of years, but now....
Slain Brigham doctor recalled as caring, ‘visionary’
Slain Brigham doctor mourned as achiever who put patients first
Brigham shooter felt betrayed after mother died, says brother
After Brigham shooting, area facilities revisit security
NDUs:
"For food truck owners, it’s all about location" by Callum Borchers, Globe Staff January 21, 2015
Boston’s food truck vendors are 10 weeks from opening for the season, but they already have some idea of where they’ll be hawking their wood-fire pizza, fish tacos, and other moveable feasts.
The city held its annual food truck lottery to assign sales locations on public ways Tuesday evening at Faneuil Hall. Some 22 locations around the city were made available for food trucks, with each location divided into different time slots — breakfast or lunch, for example.
Altogether, 351 time slots were raffled off during a long and tedious process. The available spaces did not include some of the popular food truck spots in the city — those on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which the nonprofit Greenway Conservancy awards separately.
As in sports, a high draft pick can be a big win. A primo spot can mean getting to park within sniffing distance of thousands of hungry people. But with food purveyors planning to roll out 81 trucks this year — 23 more than last year — the odds of landing a top selection weren’t great. While the city has not capped the number of licenses it issues, it does limit the number of trucks that can sell in one place at any given time.
**********
The Boston food truck scene has exploded since 2011, when there were just three mobile meal providers on the road, according to the city’s Office of Food Initiatives. The growth means an increasingly wide selection for on-the-go diners. Available dishes now go far beyond hot dogs and hamburgers to include barbecued lamb, seafood, waffles, and pasta.
But some food trucks have learned not to bank on the city-offered locations.
“If you’re relying on the lottery for your business, you’re in deep trouble,” said Bryan Peugh, owner of Baja Taco Truck....
--more--"
You can feast as much as you want on the dud of a storm (that unfurled largely as scripted?) after all the fear was plowed at you. I'm going to coast through it.
Felt like you were under siege, didn't it? Funny how they can't predict tomorrow but know with such certainty the next 100 years, huh?
One thing I do know: If I were a business shut down by the scare I would be furious.
And speaking of snow jobs:
Surgeon slain, gunman found dead in day of crisis at Brigham
Once may have believed it before the endless stream of staged and scripted psyop hoaxes the past couple of years, but now....
Slain Brigham doctor recalled as caring, ‘visionary’
Slain Brigham doctor mourned as achiever who put patients first
Brigham shooter felt betrayed after mother died, says brother
After Brigham shooting, area facilities revisit security
More crisis actors?
