Military rations from around the world have, at the end of the day, a single purpose - giving the members of their armed services the energy they need to do their jobs.

How the various rations arrive at that point, well, that's an adventure in itself. Every country has its own ideas for what should be in a ration, from the specific food items, to how it's packaged, to what accessories are included. They want to give their soldiers and sailors familiar foods and at least an illusion of home (although when you're crouched in a muddy bunker during a snowstorm, getting mortared by the enemy, or getting tossed around in gale-force winds on a freezing ocean, that's a lot to ask from a packaged ration).

With that in mind, here we go with a global sampling of what today's fighting men and women are eating when they're out and about.

People's Republic of China - People's Liberation Army

You would think that the world's largest army would have the whole portable ration thing down to a science, and the Communist Chinese do. Up to a point. I say that because you'd kind of expect their rations to wow you in at least one - or even several - ways. This ration is designated for Chinese special forces, so let's see if it's enough to keep the toughest of tough guys going.

Special Forces Menu 4 - Rice and Ham

Clay pot rice - 1 pouch, 11.2 ounces

Ham - 1 piece, 0.6 ounces

Braised quail eggs  - 3, 1.1 ounces

Fresh cucumber - 1 pouch, 0.6 ounces

Tomato egg drop soup (dried) - 1 pouch, 0.2 ounces

Spicy sauce - 1 pouch, 0.2 ounces

Plastic water measuring bag - 1

Insulating foam sleeve - 1

Plastic spork - 1

Paper napkin - 2, 6.5 x 8.5-inches each

Wooden toothpick - 1

Paperboard eating bowl - 1, 3.5 x 6.25 x 1.75 inches

Comments:

This is either lunch or dinner for one person, and while the amount and variety of food might be considered adequate by some, the complete lack of any amenities makes me think that PRC special forces troops must pack an awful lot of condiments and snacks where ammunition would normally go.

The forest green plastic outer bag has a convenient tear notch, something other nations should emulate. In fact, all of the packets within the ration had tear notches. I've literally had to use scissors or a sharp knife to open some US MRE packets and other foreign rations because there was no tear notch.

The entree is clay pot rice, a Chinese staple that goes back hundreds of years. The military version comes in a retort pouch with the self-heating unit and plastic outer sleeve, just like US MREs. The Chinese heater worked well. Using the included small plastic pouch to measure water, I added that to the retort pouch and ended up with a moderately-warm rice dish after the recommended 15 minutes. It was by no means steaming hot, but it was warm (and would probably have gotten hotter if left alone longer, I'm sure).

I didn't use the included foam insulating sleeve to eat the rice directly out of the pouch, but that was a nice touch. I wish US MRE retort pouches had such a sleeve because they can get really hot and hard to hold.

As for the taste ... well. It was an eating experience. The short-grain brown rice was gluey in texture and the entire serving plopped onto my metal mess tray in one piece - it was visually unappealing. It did contain small pieces of meat (some kind of sausage), and while they had a meat-like taste, most of the bits were quite dry and chewy. There were some chunks of gristle, too. There were also small bits of carrots and other unrecognizable vegetables (mushrooms?). It was nominally filling and not too salty, but the fish sauce that's supposed to be the main seasoning was absolutely flavorless. I used the included plastic spork to try and get the last of the rice out of its pouch, but it wasn't long enough and way too flimsy to do that job.

The photo shows the entire meal on the traditional US metal mess tray. Clockwise from top left: Ham slice, quail eggs, spicy sauce, cucumber, clay pot rice, spork, tomato egg drop soup, and ... the toothpick!

The ham "slice," designed to up the meal's protein value, was literally the size of a US 50-cent piece. If it had been all ham that might have been OK, but this is the Chinese version of Spam - ham, chicken. soy protein and a whollllllle lot of chemicals. The two bites had a vague ham flavor, not as intense as Spam, but really added nothing to the meal. I should have tucked that package in with the clay pot rice, it might have tasted better warm. Might have.

The fresh cucumber was a nice touch as a condiment. There were only about two teaspoonfuls of the thinly-sliced, bright green vegetable, though, so it didn't go very far. It was a little crunchy and did taste like cucumbers in a lightly-sweet sauce.

There were three quail eggs in their own pouch. I guess quail eggs are a thing in China, and maybe when they are freshly prepared they taste good. These did not. The brownish-gray "whites" were very rubbery and flavorless. The yellowish yolks inside did have a vague egg taste, but overall, eating them was only a notch above revolting because of how nauseating the eggs looked when plopped out onto the tray. It reminded me of eating a room-temperature past-its-best-by-date raw oyster.

I was kind of excited about the tomato egg drop soup until I realized it was the largish cube of dried stuff, some of which had crumbled to dust in its pouch. There were no directions for mixing it with hot water to make a real soup, although with a mess kit and heat tablets you could do that. The pouch the soup comes in wasn't big enough to rehydrate that amount. Eating the ration in the spirit it was presented in, I opted to crunch down. The two bites were satisfying but very salty.

I tried a little of the spicy sauce on a spoonful of clay pot rice, a bit of the ham and one quail egg. The listed ingredients included bean paste, chili peppers, oyster sauce (no idea), ginger, scallions and "spices." It added a bit of zip and had some nice smoky undertones, but I would not want to slather it all over a main dish because the post-consumption stomach burn was quite pronounced.

The accessory packet was ... spartan. A diminutive and way-too-flexible plastic spork, two thin flimsy paper napkins, a small cardboard thing that folded out to make a disposable bowl ... and a toothpick. Hats off to the PLA for that. In all my military eating experiences, I've never seen a toothpick included in the ration. But no extra seasonings of any kind; that's a Fail.

Final Thoughts on the People's Liberation Army Special Forces ration:

Total calories for Menu 4 are about 2,800. But there's more than 6,500 milligrams of sodium, which is quite a lot. The 19.5 grams of protein is adequate but not enough for a highly-active soldier. The almost 56 grams of carbohydrates is enough to give a person a decent "full" feeling.

None of these items are going to taste just like Mom made them when you were a kid, but the overall blandness and visually unappealing nature of all of the food items except the cucumber makes me think the Chinese need to go back to the drawing board. You're already asking a lot of special forces troops. Serving them glop like this three times a day isn't going to make them want to perform better.

One of the other main Failures of this ration is the complete lack of drink mixes. The US Army realized awhile ago that hydration is a key component to keeping soldiers healthy and functioning, so there are always a variety of drink mixes, shakes, etc., in US rations to encourage soldiers to drink lots of fluids. I'm not saying that all of then are tasty (the tropical fruit-flavored mix is execrable) but it's a lot better than plain water out of your canteen, meal after meal. Other nations have also recognized this and virtually all include both multiple drink mixes and water purification tablets in their rations.

Packaging is 27 percent of the total weight of this ration, and a goodly amount of that comes from the thermal pouches to heat up the entree. That seems worth it to me, because I can't imagine eating a solid glop of clay pot rice cold right out of the pouch. Still ... for what the troops are getting with this ration, it seems like there could have been a lot more taste included for the weight.

From a tactical standpoint, if this is a special forces ration, it stands to reason they are going to places where they ought not to be - so bright silver food envelopes is another Fail.

Thanks to son-in-law for procuring this ration!