Yes this is real.
http://liw.iki.fi/liw/misc/MIL-C-44072C.pdf
An example of the efficiency of the federal government. A brownie recipe issued by the Pentagon. Apparently all government food preparation is required to follow such strict guidelines.
26 pages.
I wonder how long the Government Cookbook is?
Geez, and I thought government bid documents are tiresome to read. I think I'd starve before I ever got to the good part of a recipe.
I thought that it was pretty neat that this recipe is capable of producing "food capable of withstanding the most brutal field conditions". And especially interested in the fact that the brownies can last 3 years. My brownies are usually inedible after 3 days.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/26/ap/strange/main6520221.shtml (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/26/ap/strange/main6520221.shtml)
Quote
Jeremy Whitsitt, a Pentagon food specialist, told NPR that the recipe is intended to produce food capable of withstanding the most brutal field conditions.
"What would happen if you cooked a meal, stored it in a stifling hot warehouse, dropped it out of an airplane, dragged it through the mud, left it out with bugs and vermin, and ate it three years later?" Whitsitt asked NPR rhetorically, highlighting the bombproof nature of his brownies.
By Whitsitt's estimation, brownies baked from the lengthy government recipe could last as long as three years.
In all fairness, the document also covers chocolate-covered oatmeal cookies as well.
Great, now I'm hungry.
I'm pretty sure it's the plastic sealing requirements that have more to do with the shelf-life than the recipe.
Was there a specification for the optional marijuana add-in?