Chow time: The link between your food and the military industrial complex

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Army researchers will try to find ways to 3-D print nutritious food with less heavy packaging than the current military meals.

Ever had an energy bar. Or a cup of instant coffee? How about a hot dog? If you answer in the affirmative, like most modern-day Americans would, you have the U.S. military to thank.

Ever had an energy bar? Or a cup of instant coffee? How about a hot dog? If you answer in the affirmative, like most modern-day Americans would, you have the U.S. military to thank.

In the book, “Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat,” food writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedo traces the invention of the abovementioned food items and other processed foods to the U.S. military. She writes that almost all of the mass-produced food items we consume today, or the technologies behind their productions, are trickled down from the innovations the U.S. has come up with in order to feed our soldiers.

Guest:

Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, author of the book, “Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat (Portfolio, 2015) and a food writer whose writing has appeared in Salon, Boston Globe and other publications