>I'm reminded of a passage in John Ringo's The Last Centurion in
>which emergerncy rations are being discussed, and the new type they
>concocted to keep a large portion of the population from starving were
>deliberately designed to taste as bad as possible, so that people
>didn't try to eat them unless they were REALLY, REALLY desperate.
>Which might be the original intent, if rat bars were first created to
>be survival rations. Someone along the way just forgot to improve the
>taste.

Make me think more of the D-Rations of WWII, which were created based upon the following guidelines:

1. Weigh 4 ounces
2. Be high in food energy value
3. Be able to withstand high temperatures
4. Taste "little better than a baked potato."

They made them out of chocolate, sugar, oat flour, cacao fat, skim milk powder, and artificial flavoring. The final product was so gooey that they couldn't pour them into molds, so every bar had to be individually kneaded and hand pressed. And because the Army Quartermaster had specified they be so unappetizing, in order to prevent soldiers from snacking on them, most threw them away due to the horrid flavor. Didn't help that you stood the chance of cracking your teeth if you tried to bite into one.