Backpackers and budget travelers eager for a taste of real home cooking while exploring the narrow lanes of Chinatown in Bangkok, Thailand, now have an alternative to Thai street stalls and Thai hawkers food. They will nowadays find specialized small food stalls catering to foreigners and serving black-market U.S. military rations.
They can choose ration No. 10, macaroni with chili or ration No. 3, beef ravioli, with a promise that other tastes will come on the menu very soon. It might be illegal for American citizens to eat the western food, given the brown plastic package is stamped "U.S. Government property Commercial resale is unlawful" But for many visitors, it is a treat and a welcome change from the 20 Baht Thai noodle soup.
Lots of foreigners come eat here and many even buy the food bags to take with them, especially before they go on a Jungle trek in Northern Thailand, said the young woman helping as a waitress in a little street restaurant tucked away in one of the narrow lanes of Bangkok's sprawling Chinatown in Thailand.
The small shop near the food stall sells an assortment of U.S. military surplus products, from US army jackets to jumpsuits. We also have an original American pilot overall, boasted the saleswoman. Asked about the steep price tag, she said: It's expensive because it's original and from America.
The Meals Ready-to-Eat (MRE) packages, which normally come in more than 25 flavors, including chicken or vegetarian, are stacked in a large cardboard boxes near the entrance of the shop. On some of the packages, the US military resale warning has been covered up with black paint.
It's original food from America, but I'm not sure how it got here, the waitress explained. I am sure it is not made in Thailand, because the taste is not spicy like Thais like it, it's real American food, she added.
A U.S. official in Bangkok said he was completely unaware of the sale of MREs rations in Thailand and could not explain how the those military rations made for the US army by the Wornick Co. in McAllen, Texas, had reached the streets of Bangkok in Thailand.
What is MRE
The Ready-To-Eat (MRE) meal has been specialy designed to sustain an individual soldier in heavy activity such as during actual military operations when normal food service facilities are not available. The MRE is a totally self-contained operational ration consisting of a full meal packed in a flexible meal bag. The full bag is lightweight and fits easily into the soldier's military field clothing pockets.
The contents of one MRE meal bag provides an average of 1250 kilocalories (13 % protein, 36 % fat, and 51 % carbohydrates). It also provides 1/3 of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals as determined by the Surgeon General of the United States.
