Pizza in a pocket v ravioli in a tin: US and Italian soldiers taste test each other's ration packs

Italy has taken on the US in a ration pack taste test, with airborne soldiers from the two countries breaking from joint operations to swap and compare ration packs. 

In a video filmed in Drop Zone Juliet, Pordenone province in Italy, Fabio of 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment, Italian Army and Lt Mika Andrews of 173rd Airborne Brigade, US Army sample each other's country's ration packs to see which would win in a taste test. 

Every army in Nato has its own unique ration packs that give each soldier and officer the much-needed calories they need to get on with the job at hand plus, the comfort of warm food and the familiar taste of home. 

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However, the contents of each country's ration pack vary depending on its origin. 

From America's pizza warmed in a flameless ration heater and super spicy jalapeno cashew nuts to Italy's tinned ravioli and a fruit salad, both ration packs in this taste test gave each soldier food for thought. 

With comments ranging from Lt Andrews' "that's pretty cool, I really enjoyed it" to Fabio's "instead of pizza I prefer to call it like toast", it's fair to say opinions were divided on whether the taste test lived up to expectations.

The one thing they can agree on is how much they both enjoy peanut butter, with Lt Mika Andrews saying: "How universal is it that everybody loves the peanut butter and crackers." 

To maintain good oral hygiene after all that food, the Italian 24-hour ration pack even comes with a toothbrush for each meal and, as Lt Mika Andrews says, "a teeny, tiny toothpaste". 

Filmed during joint airborne operations in November 2022, about 800 paratroopers from the US Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, the Italian Army's 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment and the German Army's 26th Airborne Regiment performed several jumps over a drop zone in northern Italy. 

Cover image: US v Italy ration pack taste test with Fabio of 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment, Italian Army and Lt Mika Andrews of 173rd Airborne Brigade, US Army (Picture: Nato).