Buckwheat vs barley
Now from the diet of military personnel such grains as barley, millet and oatmeal are withdrawn. For those who at one time did military service, with these cereals is associated storyor even a whole epoch. A few years ago, the Russian, and even more so the Soviet, private could not even imagine that they would lose those very “bolts” or “shrapnels” as the soldiers affectionately called this rump.
As usual, such changes in army life could not pass unnoticed, not only by military personnel, but also by purely civilians. Some information and analytical agencies decided to conduct a large-scale sociological survey in which people of various professions were asked how they relate to replacing barley and millet with buckwheat and rice. Of course, when answering a question, many people recalled their “wartime”, when it was difficult to imagine an army breakfast without millet or barley porridge. Most of the respondents calmly reacted to the planned changes, but there were also those who were ready to fight for barley to foaming at the mouth.
Needless to say, pearl barley is a real symbol of the national army, but sooner or later the symbols can be, and often need to be changed. That is exactly what highbrow officials thought. Immediately I heard the words that despite the infinite love of this croup, it is impossible, they say, not to take into account the fact that the new army also needs a new diet. Proponents of change say that the soldier should eat the proposed food with pleasure, and that of sin, conceal from the "snotty" oatmeal and barley not many were and remain enthusiastic. Another thing is that not everyone is crazy about buckwheat cereal, which is going to be introduced for replacement. And if we talk about rice, it is generally a product of almost purely imported.
Some will say: well, they replaced the cereals with one another, and fool with them. Others will take up a calculator and begin to figure out how much the current perturbations will cost the current army. By the way, here and without a calculator, you can estimate. So, the average price of barley in Russia today is about 10 rubles per kilogram, and the price of buckwheat ranges from 30 to 110 (!) Rubles for the same kg. It turns out that even with a simple scenario, feeding soldiers with buckwheat for the military budget will cost 3, or even more times more.
Opinions:
Ilya Kramnik, military expert:
The decision of Serdyukov is correct: pearl barley, pshenka, oatmeal have become boring, and buckwheat, rice, pasta - a higher level of nutrition. As for changes in general, now army food is being transferred to outsourcing. In this case, corruption risks are reduced. A fixed fee is set by the military unit, which reduces the opportunities for corruption.
Mikhail GINZBURG, Dietitian, MD:
The feeling of abandoning barley in the army is twofold. On the one hand, this cereal has many nutritional benefits. She has a low glycemic index, which means she can maintain a state of satiety for a long time, which is good in the army. It turns out nourishing food. Another advantage, but already economic: barley will always be inexpensive grains.
But at the same time there are disadvantages. For example, I rarely eat barley, I don’t really like it - coarse grits. And I cannot say that it has any great advantages over buckwheat and rice. Food without pearl barley with plenty of rice, buckwheat is good food. For the soldiers here, I would rather be glad.
Leonid IVASHOV, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems:
For a long time I did not eat barley ... We need a domestic, high-quality, high-calorie product. In Soviet times, an entire institute was engaged in the study of the soldiers' menu. We proceeded from the fact that it was tasty, nutritious and so that it could be kept in reserve not only for the current army, but also for the mobilization.
Oleg TERESHKIN, veteran of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kazan:
What kind of army is this, if its fighting capacity depends on food?
Boris SMAGORINSKY, head of the public council of the State Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Volgograd region:
Only a tasty cooked slice of pork or beef. And the defenders will eat well, and raise livestock.
Ilya Kramnik, military expert:
The decision of Serdyukov is correct: pearl barley, pshenka, oatmeal have become boring, and buckwheat, rice, pasta - a higher level of nutrition. As for changes in general, now army food is being transferred to outsourcing. In this case, corruption risks are reduced. A fixed fee is set by the military unit, which reduces the opportunities for corruption.
Mikhail GINZBURG, Dietitian, MD:
The feeling of abandoning barley in the army is twofold. On the one hand, this cereal has many nutritional benefits. She has a low glycemic index, which means she can maintain a state of satiety for a long time, which is good in the army. It turns out nourishing food. Another advantage, but already economic: barley will always be inexpensive grains.
But at the same time there are disadvantages. For example, I rarely eat barley, I don’t really like it - coarse grits. And I cannot say that it has any great advantages over buckwheat and rice. Food without pearl barley with plenty of rice, buckwheat is good food. For the soldiers here, I would rather be glad.
Leonid IVASHOV, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems:
For a long time I did not eat barley ... We need a domestic, high-quality, high-calorie product. In Soviet times, an entire institute was engaged in the study of the soldiers' menu. We proceeded from the fact that it was tasty, nutritious and so that it could be kept in reserve not only for the current army, but also for the mobilization.
Oleg TERESHKIN, veteran of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kazan:
What kind of army is this, if its fighting capacity depends on food?
Boris SMAGORINSKY, head of the public council of the State Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Volgograd region:
Only a tasty cooked slice of pork or beef. And the defenders will eat well, and raise livestock.
Or maybe this is not at all a concern for a more tasty and nutritious diet for servicemen. And another attempt to leave a considerable part of the budget of military money in the pockets of long forgotten and about wheat, and the barley of Russian generals.
This no longer seems a strange niggle to the reform of the Russian army after it began to use outsourcing services. Moreover, hired civilian workers often work only on paper, and on paper they receive their wages. In fact, the money confidently flows into the accounts of the generals' ranks, and all the work on cleaning the premises, planting vegetables and unloading cars is done by all the same draftees. By the way, they also have their summer cottages to manage to build the same generals for “outsourcing” finances.
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