What were they eating in Das Boot?

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Mad Mardigan

Ahoy, Bubblehead1980...

From what I have gathered, what they were eating on, if I am NOT mistaken was basically what we now know of... as Spam.

No, not that scummy crud you get in your email box... but canned meat.

That they were even trying to eat it, at that point, means that obviously they had been out there for some time & were still expected to cover their assigned area.

Of course, that's just a basic stab in the dark guess.. but, am fairly confident on that being what it was... just their own version of that meaty treat.

M. M.

Does anyone know what that tough looking meat (or whatever) was that the officer was eating during the earlier dining scene in Das Boot? The meal when they were discussing him working on the plantation in Mexico. That meat looked better than Schweinskopfsülze, but tough!

And yeah it's always a hoot reading about how bad the food situation was aboard U-Boats - In one report I read, a captured Norwegian was horrified that the U-Boat's bacon ration was filled with white worms - and the crew devoured it anyway.

While researching for WWI I found out sometimes U-Boats would land in Ireland and trade items for sheep to slaughter - the fresh mutton was much preferred to the stale food on board. Not sure if this was ever done in WWII; I suppose by then with more aircraft around it was considered too hazardous.