It’s not exactly written in the codex Astartes, but one does expect the near demigod tier supersoldiers to be fully self-sufficient and able to hunt if needed.
An army runs on its stomach, and supply lines on an interplanetary scale can be quite fragile.
Oh yeah. They’ve got tons of weird organs thanks to the Emperor’s engineering. Most of them are normal super soldier stuff, improved blood clotting, that sort of thing. But they can also produce extremely acidic spit, which helps them break down materials for food in a pinch, or to be used as a weapon. They can also gain your knowledge by eating you. Genetic memory is a thing in 40k and Space Marines aren’t the only ones capable of getting at it - see: Kroot.
They can also survive space longer than humans, as one might expect from space-faring super soldiers. Uhhh, what else…
Iirc the lore gets a bit weird about this, but essentially their nutrient requirements are so high that unless they’re eating an entire butchered hog for every meal, they’re basically starving to death. Slowly, yes, but it takes a lot to maintain the astartes’ physiology. Normal humans just die if they eat astartes food (of… food overdose? I guess? Too much nutrition? its unclear.), but inconsistency is rife on this subject. Basically tho, bigger picture, if things are so bad even the astartes supply line is cut off you’ve got bigger problems than food to worry about so the point is a bit moot.
It’s not exactly written in the codex Astartes, but one does expect the near demigod tier supersoldiers to be fully self-sufficient and able to hunt if needed.
An army runs on its stomach, and supply lines on an interplanetary scale can be quite fragile.
Space Marines can survive off very little in the lore for surprisingly long periods. All that genetic engineering… somehow.
They can also gain memories from people they eat. And spit acid.
Holup, what were those last two things?
Oh yeah. They’ve got tons of weird organs thanks to the Emperor’s engineering. Most of them are normal super soldier stuff, improved blood clotting, that sort of thing. But they can also produce extremely acidic spit, which helps them break down materials for food in a pinch, or to be used as a weapon. They can also gain your knowledge by eating you. Genetic memory is a thing in 40k and Space Marines aren’t the only ones capable of getting at it - see: Kroot.
They can also survive space longer than humans, as one might expect from space-faring super soldiers. Uhhh, what else…
You should probably just read this https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Creation_of_a_Space_Marine
Iirc the lore gets a bit weird about this, but essentially their nutrient requirements are so high that unless they’re eating an entire butchered hog for every meal, they’re basically starving to death. Slowly, yes, but it takes a lot to maintain the astartes’ physiology. Normal humans just die if they eat astartes food (of… food overdose? I guess? Too much nutrition? its unclear.), but inconsistency is rife on this subject. Basically tho, bigger picture, if things are so bad even the astartes supply line is cut off you’ve got bigger problems than food to worry about so the point is a bit moot.