What was the typical dinner like for US soldiers during WWII?

What Americans ate after WWII

Returning from World War II, the American cultural landscape saw a vast number of changes. Cuisine, in particular, diversified and modernized thanks to traveled soldiers and wartime innovation. From inventions like powdered cheese to the popularization of instant coffee and Chinese food, explore the changes to the American food industry that continue to influence what we consume today.

See what it was like to live in the United States during World War II

In America, life was transformed by total war: sixteen million service members left civilian life, while massive industrial production demanded labor. Women, minorities, and teens filled factories, fueling boomtown growth and breaking social barriers. Simultaneously, rationing, recycling drives, Victory Gardens, ration stamps, blackout drills, and war bond campaigns permeated daily routines.

How Chef Boyardee fed America

Chef Boyardee wasn’t just a grocery store staple—it was once a key supplier for US troops in WWII. Founded by Italian immigrant Hector Boiardi, the company produced thousands of canned pasta rations daily.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

One US Marine fighter squadron made their own ice cream during World War II

To boost his squad’s morale during World War II, squadron commander J. Hunter Reinburg developed a method for making ice cream on the fly: Empty ammo cans filled with ingredients were flown at altitudes high enough for them to freeze.

Why did the US make it illegal to sell sliced bread during WWII?

Pre-sliced bread has only been with us for almost 100 years, but during the course of World War II it was briefly banned to save on supplies like wax paper and stainless steel for the war effort. This Atlas Obscura article explores this amusing (though not at the time) bit of food during wartime history.

The story of the 1945 Minnesota Starvation Experiment

Amid the severe conditions of World War II, researchers were eager to learn the effects of starvation in a controlled study. This podcast dives into a yearlong study of 36 men at a Minneapolis college who endured a six-month period of semi-starvation, where their caloric intake was halved. Results from the experiment became a landmark study in human starvation.

Detailing the horrific conditions of life in the trenches

What was it like to live and fight in a trench during World War I? If you were on the German side you might have bunkers, electricity, and other basic comforts. If you were on the British and French side the conditions have been described as muddy and "horrific". Find out how unpleasant trench warfare was and how it affected WWI soldiers.

World War II soldiers received specially-made vinyl records

"V-Discs" were vinyl records featuring popular folk, classical, and jazz songs. This was one of the first widespread uses of vinyl, rather than shellac, records.

Look through this WWI stretcher bearer's bag

While it was indeed the first industrialized war, medical science had yet to catch up on the battlefield. This nearly eight-minute video sorts through the contents of a World War I stretcher-bearer's satchel. A modern doctor and ex-officer assesses the bag's various medical tools for performing first aid on the battlefield.

Nuclear weapons in WWII

This 14-minute interactive documentary broaches the subject of the human cost of nuclear warfare. Comparing the number of deaths during World War II with the projected deaths of a nuclear exchange, the video can be paused to delve deeper into individual statistics, historical tidbits, and more data that shows the terrible price humanity would pay.

What would you have done on Armistice Day?

Armistice Day (now known as Veteran's Day in the United States), November 11, 1918, marked the end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I. This collection of interactive videos and recordings of United Kingdom residents who fought in the war or supported those who did provides perspective on how individuals experienced that great day for themselves.

A look at what was on the menu for ancient Romans

"Delicious Italy" is a website exploring the food culture of various Italian cities and regions, and in this article, the editors explore what is known about the diet of ancient Romans. Olives (and their oil) were a key daily essential, alongside grains like barley, millet, and spelt flour. Where meat was found it was most often ox, pork, deer, lamb, and even pigeons. Middle Eastern fruits like cherries and peaches could last long enough to travel to Roman cities around the Mediterranean, and candy-friendly dates were sourced from Africa. Explore this and much more at Delicious Italy.

Unpacking Thoreau's diet, which once included a woodchuck

The writer's diet was notoriously simple, preferring an inexpensive combination of rice and vegetables to meat, though he usually ate it when offered. In "Walden," he mentions eating a woodchuck after it got into his beans, which one Thoreau biographer said was likely true.

FDR stayed composed as he absorbed the news of Pearl Harbor

This video reconstructs Roosevelt’s steady, methodical response on Dec. 7, 1941, from his first briefing to drafting his speech to Congress. It demonstrates how FDR maintained composure and moved rapidly to prepare the nation for war.

Penicillin supplies were ready for every wounded soldier on D-Day

By June 1944, Allied stockpiles included 2.3 million doses of penicillin—enough to ensure that every soldier wounded during the pivotal Normandy landings could receive treatment.

The usual rules of fate do not apply': Race car driver-turned-ace WWI fighter pilot survives being lost at sea

Eddie Rickenbacker had an amazing career as a World War I hero, fighter pilot, and race care driver, among other accomplishments. This restored footage of an short 12-minute documentary about his early life, war stories, and survival at sea for 24 days provides amazing insight on a truly American character.

Hear firsthand stories from the Civil War

Historian and storyteller Fred Kiger narrates detail-rich episodes exploring overlooked people and moments of the Civil War—bringing listeners onto battlefields and into strategy rooms and offering insight into the lives of those who lived the conflict.

The ‘Bullshit Bombers’ of the Vietnam War and their mountain ghost

Armed with marketing insight and leaflets, these US soldiers tried to use propaganda to get the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military to abandon their weapons and leave the war. But what’s more effective than a leaflet’s promise of a decent cup of coffee amid bombing? Ghostly threats from the great beyond. Learn more about weaponized superstition in this 42-minute podcast episode.

Watch a pro butcher turn half a pig into eight common meals

The variety of food derived from a pig is enormous—from the common hot dog to delicate capicola. Watch butcher John Ratliff transform this meat into the basis of some of the most well-known meals.

Watch how dozens of everyday human tasks are performed in space

This playlist features clips of astronauts aboard the International Space Station explaining how they cook, eat, sleep, and conduct research in microgravity. Other activities to pass the time, including watering plants and playing soccer, are also shown.

The story of the first British royal visit to the US in 1939

Amid pre-World War II diplomatic efforts in June 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I (not her better-known daughter, Elizabeth II) became the first reigning British monarchs to visit the US—163 years after the colonies declared independence from Great Britain. The five-day meeting began with two formal days in Washington, DC, before concluding at FDR's estate in Hyde Park, where the monarchs reportedly enjoyed hot dogs for the first time.

Watch archival footage of Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics

The 1936 Berlin Games were the first Olympics to be shown live on television (though not broadcast). The Germans used a closed circuit television network to bring the Games to 25 viewing halls in black and white. View footage of American Olympic hero Jesse Owens winning his four gold medals, and his historic interaction with German long jumper Luz Long in Nazi Germany.

In the 1930s, three Australian soldiers were sent to fight emus with machine guns—and lost

As part of a post-WWI initiative to turn veterans into farmers, soldiers were given plots of land. After emus were found damaging the farmland, three men were sent to handle the flightless birds. These men ended up losing to the second-largest bird species in the world and potentially exacerbating crop losses by sending swaths of the birds running and trampling over wheat.

How to eat Korean food

If you don’t know your banchan from your bibimbap, Chef Seoyoung Jung offers a quick breakdown of the anatomy of a typical Korean meal. She also gives some useful do's and don'ts for Korean mealtimes, including why you should always place your rice bowl to the left of the soup bowl (and never pick it up while you’re eating)

Alexander the Great, Rudyard Kipling, and more may have died from food poisoning

Though it is hard to prove decades or centuries after their deaths, some researchers suspect that food poisoning killed a variety of historical figures, including US President Zachary Taylor in 1850: Some researchers believe he may have consumed food contaminated with *Salmonella*.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies, still under development, have long been funded by the US military.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.