Steve1989MREInfo

Steven Andrew Thomas (born in April 1989), known online as Steve1989MREInfo, Steve MRE, or Steve1989, is an American YouTuber and military history commentator, best known for his YouTube video content in which he unboxes and tastes new, old, obscure, or foreign military rations.[1][3]

Steve1989MREInfo
Born
Steven Andrew Thomas

April 1989 (age 34)
NationalityAmerican
Other namesSteve1989
OccupationLandscaper[1]
Known forEating old military rations
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2015–present
Genres
Subscribers2.08 million[2]
Total views374 million[2]
100,000 subscribers2016
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: 6 August 2023

Early life

Thomas's interest in military rations began in 1997 as a young boy when his uncle purchased a case of Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) rations from a surplus store. The first ration Thomas ate from the case was a ham slice meal manufactured in 1993, which he ate cold because he did not know how to use the included flameless ration heater.[4] Despite his dedication to military rations, Thomas has not served in any military.[1]

Internet career

Thomas began his YouTube channel in November 2015. He first gained notoriety in January 2016 for a video in which he ate 61-year-old peanut butter from a Korean War-era C-ration.[5][6][7] Later that year, a video review of Thomas eating American Civil War-era hardtack from 1863 went viral.[8]

Thomas has reviewed both vintage and contemporary rations of several armed forces from around the world, including those from the American, British, Canadian, Russian, Ukrainian, Australian, and Chinese militaries.[9][10][11] He has reviewed a variety of military chocolate, including the American World War II-era D-ration and Tropical Bar.[12][13] Thomas smokes, and he has smoked and reviewed cigarettes included in older rations, with the oldest cigarette he smoked being a 123-year-old cigarette dating to 1897.[14][15] Because many of the rations Thomas opens are extremely rare, he has stated that he will only open and review a ration once he has obtained a duplicate that will remain unopened in a private collection.[4]

Thomas' video voice-overs have gained traction within his subscriber community for their calm delivery, and signature catch-phrases such as "nice hiss" (referring to the sound sometimes made when opening hermetically sealed ration packages) and "Let's get this out onto a tray. Nice!" (referencing laying out the ration items onto a table, before hard-cutting to them neatly arranged on a mess kit). He almost always ends his videos with the catchphrase, "This is Steve1989. I... hope you liked the video, and I'll be coming back at you with something new... or old. Alright, cool. See ya."

Complications

Despite eating rations that are well beyond the recommended shelf life specified by manufacturers, Thomas has reported that he rarely becomes ill from eating them. As of 2023, he is only known to have become ill from two rations—a Ukrainian ration in 2015 (before his YouTube channel began), for which he was hospitalized for E. coli;[4] and a Chinese PLA Type 13 ration in 2019, which he harshly criticized while reviewing[16]—both of which were only one year old and in-date when he ate them. He has described a cheese spread from a 1985 MRE as "the grossest thing I've ever tasted, because it literally felt like fire. And bitterness."[1]

Thomas took a brief hiatus in mid-2020 after injuring tendons in his right arm, according to his pinned YouTube comment in the comments section of his then-most-recent video. He made the video as soon as the brace was removed from his arm.[17]

See also

References
  1. Molly Fitzpatrick (17 March 2017). "Why Millions of People Watch This YouTuber Eat 50-Year-Old Rations". GQ. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  2. "About Steve1989MREInfo". YouTube.
  3. Anna Dubenko and Michelle L. Dozois (3 March 2017). "13 Great Stories That Have Nothing to Do With Politics". New York Times. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  4. Sonia van Gilder Cooke (3 February 2017). "I eat vintage military rations". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  5. Wyatt Marshall (24 January 2016). "This Dude Ate the Oldest Peanut Butter Ever". VICE. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  6. Claire Lomas (22 January 2016). "Watch YouTuber eat 61-year-old Korean War-era ration pack". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  7. Eric Limer (21 January 2016). "What It's Like to Eat a 60-Year-Old Military Ration". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  8. Charley Lanyon (24 February 2017). "I Can't Stop Watching This Guy Eat Decades-Old Army Rations". VICE. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  9. Steve Ricker (8 February 2017). "Join me in the delight of watching a very polite man eat 70-year-old military food". The Verge. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  10. Ella Morton (2 May 2016). "The Combat Ration Collectors Who Eat Decades-Old Military Meals". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  11. Bryan Menegus (7 July 2016). "Russian Special Forces Rations Include Brain Pâté, Among Other Things". Gizmodo. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  12. Charley Lanyon (4 January 2019). "This is what the Army's nasty 'emergency chocolate bars' tasted like". We Are the Mighty. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  13. Perry Chiaramonte (5 May 2017). "K-Rations meet Fear Factor: Online groups sample, review MREs from WWII to present day". Fox News. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  14. "Watch This Guy Smoke 74-Year-Old Cigarettes From A World War II K-Ration". Task & Purpose. 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  15. Steve1989MREInfo (September 2, 2020). 1945 RAF Emergency Rations & 1900 British Perfectly Preserved Tin Review MRE Tasting Test. YouTube.
  16. Steve1989MREInfo (April 2, 2019). 2018 Chinese PLA Type 13 MRE Individual Self Heating Meal Ready to Eat Worst Ration Taste Testing. YouTube.
  17. Steve1989MREInfo (July 4, 2020). 1993 US MRE Smoked Frankfurters Review Vintage Meal Ready to Eat Tasting Test. YouTube.
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