New York City is noted worldwide for its cuisine. It is, arguably, perhaps one of its strongest suits, with tens of thousands of restaurants in the five boroughs, spanning the gamut from fast food to haute cuisine. You can enjoy a great falafel from Mamoun’s for $2.50 or spend $100 per person or more at places like Babbo. In all cases, you will at least be provided with light, seating, and a temperature controlled environment, unless you opt for al fresco dining, which is not typically seen near the beginning of December. Unless you are working outdoors with no other options – like gutting a house on Staten Island in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which is where I found myself this past weekend.
Saturday, I ordered Chinese for delivery for a work crew of 10 which we ate truck side (bottom photo), my first experience with “tailgating”, sans the grill, coolers, tables, or summer weather. Sunday, a work crew member opened two cases of MREs – my first ever experience with war rations. MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat) are self-heating emergency meals. Ours were A Pack, made by AmeriQual group, the largest provider of MREs to the U.S. Military. Each meal pack comes in 6 varieties and includes an entrée with a self-heating unit, side dishes, beverage mix, condiment, utensil, and towelette.
The crew was a stoic bunch and enjoyed their rations sitting on the ground in Tyvek suits soiled with every manner of dirt and sewage. There were no complaints, just perhaps a bit of impatience as we struggled to open the various foil packs, read the instructions for heating, and tried to execute them, while standing in the cold. I was far from my home in Manhattan in many ways, where it was business as usual with shopping and eating out. This was not Shake Shack nor dining New York style. We were only a public bus ride away, yet some of Staten Island is still a disaster zone, where for some, today’s lunch is War Rations…
Wow. Good info to know.
And bless these workers for their contributions!
Wish I could do something. But I would be more of a hindrance than a help. I’ve given a little cash, but it doesn’t seem like enough.
Mary – hey, you know what? A lot of people need the simplest things. If you even went out there and volunteered to cart people around in your car or deliver needed things, that would be great. You are a generous person and it would be appreciated. The disaster is still far from over. We tried to get help and on weekdays, most volunteer groups have no one available because most of the volunteers are working people who come down on weekends only.
Hi, I just learned that your weblog is now hosted in its own website (since it is filtered in my country). I love New York and it hurts me when I see very bad disasters strike New York. I’d love to be of help. And I wish I lived there-the heart of the world.
Hi Brian this story had slipped off my radar. I had made the mistake of assuming that it was business as usual. I served in the Royal Marines and I quite liked the rations and used to swap ours for the earlier pre MRE when I was on exchange.