Some of the early MRE main courses were not very palatable, earning them the nicknames "Mr. E" (mystery),[16] "Meals Rejected by Everyone",[17] "Meals, Rarely Edible",[18] "Meals Rejected by the Enemy", "Morsels, Regurgitated, Eviscerated", "Mentally Retarded Edibles", "Meal, Ready to Excrete", "Materials Resembling Edibles", and even "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians".[19] Some meals got their own nicknames. For example, the frankfurters, which came sealed in pouches of four, were referred to as "the four fingers of death".[17] Although quality has improved over the years, many of the nicknames have stuck. MREs were sometimes called "Three Lies for the Price of One": it's not a Meal, it's not Ready, and you can't Eat it.[20]
Their low dietary fiber content could cause constipation in some, so they were also known as "Meals Requiring Enemas","Meals Refusing to Exit",[21] "Meals Refusing to Excrete", or "Massive Rectal Expulsions". While the myth that the gum found in MREs contains a laxative is false, the crackers in the ration pack do contain a higher than normal vegetable content to facilitate digestion. In December 2006, comedian Al Franken (on his 8th USO tour at the time) joked to troops in Iraq that he had had his fifth MRE so far and "none of them had an exit strategy".[22]
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