Economy Cuisine

Economy Cuisine is a blanket term for the food that the Themiclesian Army promoted for its own consumption between 1895 and 1915; as its name suggested, the theme of this cuisine was to produce good as nourishing and enjoyable as possible while using very little money. It is part of the broader campaign for economy that the Themiclesian government ordered in the wake of the Flood of 1894. Various officers in the period adopted strategies such as recycling food scraps, flavouring with things normally discarded, and foraging in public land.

Milky broth

In 1898 the OS Marine Corps were garrisoned in Themiclesia per the terms of the Treaty of Mutual Friendship (1897). As they were on a more generous budget than nearby Themiclesian units, they procured cuts of meats or even livestock from local sources frequently. The OS Marines often ate steaks and other roasts, leaving much unused animal bone, which they threw away as trash. Since boiling animal bones with wild greens was a common way to produce broth, which had a wide range of applications in Themiclesian cuisine, Army officers began to approach the OS Marines under the pretext of maintaining environmental sanitation and collected such food wastes. The bones, vegetable peels, and certain types of fruit rind were then thrown into a large cauldron and boiled continuously for several days to purge any possibility of rot and contamination. The resulting broth turned out milky-white due to the release of calcium from the bones, earning its name "milky broth", even though no milk is present. The rind of oranges was considered to have medicinal properties and was collected especially earnestly, cured, and sold to pharmacies.

Initially, some concerns arose, questioning the sanitation of such ingredients and the possibility of OS Marines adulterating their food scraps to poison the Army. However, physicians soon opined the practice was harmless, and one Army officer quoted his cousin, who worked in the Foreign Office, and said that if the government was indeed concerned about mischief from the OS, they would not have permitted the OS Marines to be stationed in Themiclesia anyway. The practice of selling orange peel to pharmacies was less accepted; it was forbidden by internal orders in 1900, since it would legally make the Army a for-profit organization. However, the collection of orange peels continued, and its use contribute to Themiclesian military food for decades afterwards, noted for a "strong medicinal focus" by commentators later. In 1902, Captain Mu of the 11th Company of the 31st Regiment announced that he had achieved a "zero-cost food bill" with "enthusiastic support from his subordinates".

Yams

Since the government launched an economy directive in 1898, the Army contemplated growing its own staples so as to reduce their reliance on grain production, which was hampered by the flood only several years before. This was part of the government's policy to suppress grain prices in order to prevent unrest in communities to resettle in flooded areas. However, since the Army was much smaller than it was a century ago, when it did grow its own food, they resorted to growing yams which required next to no tilling and weeding, and furthermore was resistent to droughts and thrived in poor soil nutrition. However, yams was not part of the traditional Themiclesian diet. To make it more palatable, the yams were steamed then dried in moulds; this gave cracker-like yam squares that became a popular snack that simultaneously served as staple. Yam leaves was deemed edible when tender; when they became excessively fibrous, they were used to package the yam crackers, which simultaneously had the effect of disinfecting surroundings.

Porridge has been a Themiclesian breakfast favourite for centuries, but its preparation likewise required grains, which were in short supply around the period. It was discovered that shredded yam, when cut into small bits, resembled the texture of porridge after some intensive cooking. However, cooking for too long likewise consumed large amounts of fuel, which was deemed uneconomical. In 1901, an inventive cook soaked yam shreads and then exposed them to the winter frost; when thawed, the ice disrupted the molecular structure of the yam fibres, which drastically shortened cooking time. He was given an $5 purse for this discovery, which allowed the Army to save thousands on fuel each fiscal year.

Beans

Like yam, beans were resilient against doughts and thrived in sandy soil. Yet they were deemed unfit for human consumption throughout much of Themiclesian history. In the 19th century, the "milk of beans" was produced by rigorously pounding steamed beans, which caused it to lose much of its starch and protein into a liquid which was streamed out of the paste. This liquid was called the "milk" (in the Themiclesian language any liquid strained out of solids could be called milk). When produced on an industrial scale for the Army, it supplanted some of the protein requirement in meals, which permitted soldiers to drink their meals rather than eat them. This improved training flexibility, since lunch and supper times would no longer be rigidly defined by the kitchen's schedules. Even more prodigiously, after the "milk" was drained, the remaining bean paste could be made into tofu or fed to horses or livestock.

Hams

Themiclesian cuisine sometimes demanded the inclusion of meat into certain traditional dishes; as the Army attempted to become more mobile, it became progressively less convenient for large provision trains to follow its marches. Rather than procuring meat on the way, hams were procured and kept as condiment; at meal times, the ham would be pulverized by large hammers and distributed to each table. The concentrated flavours of ham made it a welcome replacement for meat, which was hated by kitchen staff as it spoilt quickly and could lead to infections.

Response

The country pays us for doing almost nothing almost all of the time [...] it is ours then to repay its kindness by not making egregious demands of its coffers in its hour of desperation.

— —Captain Mu of the 11th Company of the 31st Regiment