This is my first international ration review. From all I had read on this board, French rations are top of the line, so I grabbed one off of e-bay a couple of months ago.
This was a Ration Individuelle d'excercise (R.I.E.), which is equivalent to a U.S training ration and doesn't have the full compliment of calories and components that a French RCIR would have.
This will be a mini-review for a couple of reasons: Its a small ration and I didn't document it as thoroughly as I should have. Nevertheless:
The box was a little banged up when I received it, and unfortunately the dessert, a butterscotch pudding, was dented. I opened it and it looked and smelled fine, but I followed a cardinal rule of ration consumption and did not eat from a dented can. The rest of the ration was great.
Biscuits half of which were sweet and half of which were savory, were included, as was a can of pate, Terrine de Cerf, which Google tells me is a venison pate. The biscuits were fantastic. The savory or spicy biscuits had a great salty/spicy flavor that was mild. The sweet biscuits were almost like graham crackers here in the States, but milder and frankly better. The pate looked and smelled very unappealing when the can was opened.
I heated it up in some boiling water, and it looked much better when opened. It had a slight white wine flavor to it, not bad at all.
The entrée was a Salad Italiane, which I thought was ironic for a French ration.
It was a pasta salad with rotini pasta, chunks of what I think was pork, and vegetables - roasted red peppers, onions, olives, mushrooms, etc. It was fantastic. I ate it cold, and don't think it would have been better heated.
Then onto the candy - a nougat bar, which was outstanding, and a rich chocolate bar which was almost as good.
That nougat bar was the best ration component I've eaten thus far. This was a great ration overall - the reputation French rations have is definitely deserved.
