Pasta and rice were carried from the rear base by means of large and heavy stockpots weighing about 50 kg.
Very important was the cooking box, a huge pot placed into wooden insulated crates, able to maintain the inside temperature up to 60° for a whole day. Food would therefore keep cooking during its long and hard haulage, which, in order to avoid the snipers, occurred only at night.

Mules were commonly used, although both women (often volunteer) and men would carry food on their shoulders when more difficult areas were to be reached. Upon its arrival food often became cold and sticky; to warm cold food, soldiers often used a smokeless heater, called scaldarancio, always present within their stock of food.
Bread was cooked in brick ovens situated in the rear bases; special mobile ovens, called Weiss, were also used; as bread represented the principal food for meals, it was the central topic of many debates to establish the wheat’s percentage necessary for a product of quality. Italy could not afford enough wheat to satisfy the inside needs and had to import it from abroad; to lower the costs, flours were blended with other cereals or, as an alternative, they limited the sieving to leave a larger amount of bran in the flour.

Images' source: La guerra italiana (Milano, Sonzogno, 1915-1920) and L'illustrazione italiana.