An army marches on its stomach
or a few words about food

A soldier’s basic food was not bread or hardtack but groats, i.e. shucked and ground grain of corn, which has been the staple diet of European civilians and soldiers since time immemorial. Eating millet groats was the most common. Groats were also made from types of corn which are virtually unknown today, such as einkorn wheat or black or brown millet. Because manufacture and trade in groats were profitable activities, they were subject to restrictions; in towns groats guilds were authorized to conduct them as evidenced by such names of streets as Krupnicza Street in Wrocław and Cracow. This is Szymon Starowolski’s description of how soldiers ate groats: “soldiers are tough people, not indulging their taste buds so they do not care for tasty food but mostly eat groats with salt and a bit of pork fat”. Consequently, groats with pork scratching was the most common soldiers’ meal. Apart from pork scratching also beef suet was added to groats. Zaporozhian Cossacks preferred buckwheat and barley groats with milk. Hominy grits, i.e. groats cooked in water was often eaten with salted cheese, bread and hardtack. Instead of hardtack Cossacks would also eat millet or barley groats with an addition of dough stored in a barrel with water.