How did ancient armies eat? One website, for example, says that Greek soldiers ate bread, cheese, and olives...

How did ancient armies eat? One website, for example, says that Greek soldiers ate bread, cheese, and olives. How did they stop the bread from going stale or moldy? Did they have giant jars of brine for the olives and cheese? Did they bring sheep and goats with them to make cheese as they went along? And what about countries that ate rice instead of bread, how did they cook it all on the spot?

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youtu.be/f55ZjXt7rrc
quora.com/How-did-the-Roman-Army-feed-itself-on-the-march
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Dry salting, pickling, cooling, heating, sugaring, fermenting. every possible way through which they could preserve they food.

There's some level of preservation like dipping meat or fruit in shitloads of salt. But there's a reason why armies travel around with livestock instead of chunks of meat, and why armies made their own freakin bread.

>And what about countries that ate rice instead of bread, how did they cook it all on the spot?
Uh, yeah? They obviously carried rice grains around instead of cooked rice.

The Chinese created the tried and tested method for carrying rice on the march: a tube sack filled with rice and knotted at intervals, with each knot representing a day's ration of rice. Although the Chinese were also a wheat culture and also carried flour and grain with them.

That tube shit was used all over in Chinese-influenced cultures in Japan (pic related), Korea, and Vietnam. Hell the Vietcong guerillas carried rice like that.

It all depends of course, but in general...

Cheese and meat were in ancient times for soldiers, but I do know Roman soldiers carried all their own food (while on march) including equipment to bake bread themselves. Grain lasts longer obviously.

*were rare

They would just loot villages for butter from time to time.

>how did they cook it all on the spot?
>Uh, yeah?

H O W

You boil it in a pot?

That's a lot of kit, but I'm assuming this was a wealthy or highly ranked warrior that had porters to carry things like his box of stationary

Well they needed it

fucking Swadians

You salt a cheese enough, it'll last for years

They carried rye and make flat bread. Rye can be boiled and eaten, too. It is cheaper and hardier than any wheat they had. Some also had wheat if they could afford it.
I think I remember reading that a punishment given to Roman legionaries was to carry the grain. Also, at some point when food was given by the government, rye was given as a punishment (over wheat).
Not that rye is bad, just that it isn't easy to eat if not cooked or ground and cleaned properly. I have a small rye patch in my yard and use it for soups and breakfast cereals. For me at least, too much gives me horrible gas. I assume that was the real punishment.

heres a (you) for mount and blade posting

How similar is the Asian fish sauce compared to what we know of garum?

Did Roman soldiers bring garum with them on campaign?

um? Fry it? Boil it? Are you an alien

As for bread, they most likely stored the ingredients dry and baked them on the march, as with early modern armies.

youtu.be/f55ZjXt7rrc

Unlikely. It'd be a bit of a luxury. They did have wine, for example, but it was basically vinegar it was so poor quality.

Ashigaru are literally the infantry and most of them are armed by their feudal lord.

tfw traffic police ashigaru

Requesting more illustrations of Ashigaru. All I have to offer in return are pictures of sexy Japanese women

What this user said Also they could cook rice from made clay pot or pillage the villages for pots to cook the rice

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Please uphold your end of the bargain.
[spoiler]or at least drop me some sauce on that pic, she's hot af tbqhwyf[/spoiler]

Ask and you shall recieve, my dude.

Her name is Liniku Ushijima

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;)

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Bless your kind heart

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Don't forget forging, which I didn't see anyone mention.
Which was a big reason campaigns tended to only last over the spring and summer months in some areas, and any wars were put on recess during winter. also why very few large empires lasted past the first founding king in the ancient world before splitering among heirs.
Large empires like the romans had grainys and supply dumps
quora.com/How-did-the-Roman-Army-feed-itself-on-the-march

>those hats
Was Uesugi Kenshin their lord?

Ever heard of a baggage train? Bread was made and animals were butchered pretty much daily.

A marching army isn't just the soldiers but rather a huge crowd, of slaves,blacksmiths,cooks,whores and whatever was considered useful along with livestock,grain and various foodstuffs... it is said that each Spartan warrior during the Persian wars had 7 servants of his own at the camp

Lets not forget how most marching armies were fully expected to forage in the area, and by forage they meant go and steal peoples food, even in your own country.
An army coming through would basically devastate a region for a couple of months.

Depends on availible markets. In the Ten Thousand by Xenophon having an availible market is something that often comes up in their negotiations.

an army of angry traffic cones

>defending your land from invaders
>vastly outnumbered by the enemy army
>tell your men to sit on the floor in two rows stretching towards the nearest cliff
>one guy carries a sign saying "road closed, follow diversion"
>entire enemy army marches into the sea and drowns

Yeah true, great for a mobile merchant, but not for local farmers.

As long as a market was provided the local peasantry should've been reasonably safe.

>Tfw you are happy that the Sassanids that have been fucking you up for 10 years are leaving
>Tfw the Byzantine liberators proceed to rape all the women in the village and take what the Sassanids didn't already burn/steal

sauce?

>Did they have giant jars of brine for the olives and cheese? Did they bring sheep and goats with them to make cheese as they went along
yes

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>You put the rice in the pot
>You put the water in the pot
>You put the fire under the pot
>The rice gets soft
>You eat the rice

>someone in history probably died horribly while wearing that hat

No, just gruel

>Castle gate too low
>Running in
>Trips

nobunaga no chef

I like this reaction pic i am saving it thanks

I spend about a year just doing feast and tourney runs before I even try to amass an army

What is no.4? Looks like a pillow for travel.

Yes, that's a neck pillow for long flights. The Japanese are an advanced peopl.

Jk. that's also a rice bag.

Did they paint their face red?

Were the conical hats made of iron? I thought they were bamboo or something.

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>Jeremus has been knocked unconscious

Heh.

Some.

Most of the time Jingasa were just straw hats with leather on em.

Let me tell you a story about cone-helmets and Sengoku Jidai's greatest troll...

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And his plan worked, too!

And then, many years and three shoguns later...

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...finis...

Who provides the market

Is this dude supposed to be Tokugawa or what?

It's Date Masamune.

And that's why fennel was added to the bread, as an anti- flatulence.

mixed with water

scholars, everyone