I would think that the animal protein sucked cause of the number of processes that it went through to be able to last years without spoiling. And seems like they aren't focus on taste on the new protein either.

That's right. Related quote:

> The four or so vegetarian options in the overall MRE lineup were always the first to go when I was in.

> Most weren’t choosing the veggie MREs for alignment with their personal ethics so much as that they wanted a meal that didn’t suck.

Non-meat MRE are already tastier that meat ones (see also [0]):

> Not only did they replace military mystery MRE meat with something more appealing to eat out of an envelope, but they were actually tasty

They seems to take the processing route indeed, which is usually more appreciated if you only account for taste: most people prefer cakes than wholemeal wheat.

> Gel/semi-solid formats, dry powder mixes, [and] sauce-style components [...] gel packs stuffed with fermented mushroom protein and other nutrients

However that's a preparation choice and not a (high-prot plant-based) necessity: - tempeh is already delicious and nutritive with two steps: cook + ferment - patties can be made with whole seeds like hemp or pumpkin - brewer yeast is cheap, tasty and it's just the leftover of the beer creation process.

Moreover I doubt meat-based MRE contains only meat: lack of fibers would lead to constipation which is not great on the battelfield.

0 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48119293

I am sure there are great arguments for the plant based food but I suspect there will be some contracts handed out to friends. It is not likely to be complained about at high levels.