Salted beef and tankards of wine

The French physician François Bernier, who arrived at the court of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the 1660s, was astonished to discover that vegetarianism was not only a viable option, it was a military asset. ‘Whereas European armies were weighed down with barrels of salted beef and tankards of wine – without which the European soldier would absolutely refuse to fight – Indian armies were perfectly content with readily transportable dried foods such as lentils and rice.’

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Ladies and gentlemen, I am never joining the European armies of history.