Food In The Military

[SobaAddict70]

Well, a military base is a lot like a small town, and the entertaining is fast, furious, constant and competitive. So there are "combat recipe-swapping" rules. That is, if you get something that is really good, quick, easy, and it becomes your "thing," and someone asks you for the recipe, the unwritten rule is that they can't make it and serve it to guests until either you get transferred away or they do.

The above quote from Jaymes in the thread on recipe etiquette got me to thinking about this really broad subject....

What's food like in boot camp, on a military base, or on a ship? It's been at least 15 years since I've been in the military (U.S. Navy, San Diego RTC), so I'm wondering if times have changed....for the better, that is.

What are your tales?

My recollection is scrambled eggs and bacon/sausage/ham for breakfast 7 days a week, and not much else. Oh, and working the galley was one of the jobs they had for the fifth week of boot camp, but I never made it past the fifth week on account of failing the swimming test. That's another story for another day though.

Soba

[torakris]

Wow, you know I don't remember too much either. Former US Army (Fort Dix, New Jersey, Fort Sam Houston, Texas and Fort Knox, Kentucky), maybe we were too busy training to even think about the food.... I was so tired most days I don't think I was fully awake while eating and probably would have eaten anything put in front of me.

I do remember at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio there was a lot of Tex-Mex, most breakfasts were scrambled eggs wrapped in burritos. Fort Sam Houston by far had the best food of all the places I went to.

At Fort Knox I ate at the hospital for most meals because it had the best food, I was a subdivision of the Medical Corp and for some reason we were supposed to eat there. I was a food inspector, though I now forget the fancy title I once had....

My military days are far behind but at least once a month I eat at the New Sanno Hotel here in Tokyo which is an US Air Force hotel which can only be used by military personnel, their guests and a couple select Japanese VIPs, for some reason my Father in law (who is Japanese and has nothing to do with the US military) has VIP status and he can get me in there. The food there is quite good and the prices are incredible especially considering it is in the heart of Tokyo. We usually go for their champagne brunch at $15 US per adult, free champagne a full buffet of salads, hot dishes, roast beef (cut to order), omelettes (made to order), desserts, drinks and a variety of Japanese foods yakitori, sushi, etc.

I usually hang out in the seafood area with the steamed mussels, boiled shrimp and cheap caviar....

Edited February 13, 2004 by torakris (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

We actually have at least one member, Beto, who is currently in Kuwait or Iraq. I have pm'd him to see if he would like to tell us what he has to eat regularly.

[chromedome]

When I was in basic training (Canadian Armed Forces) back in '81, the food was pretty much standard-issue cafeteria food. Not bad, not good, notable primarily for quantity (hundreds of 17-year-olds, working harder than they'd ever done in their lives...you'd better keep it coming!). A lot of the guys complained about the food, but I didn't. I'd eaten cafeteria food at university...I'd seen the dark side.

However improbable, some of my platoon insisted that it was better than they'd eaten at home.

[Country Cook]

When I was in basic training (Canadian Armed Forces) back in '81, the food was pretty much standard-issue cafeteria food. Not bad, not good, notable primarily for quantity (hundreds of 17-year-olds, working harder than they'd ever done in their lives...you'd better keep it coming!). A lot of the guys complained about the food, but I didn't. I'd eaten cafeteria food at university...I'd seen the dark side.

However improbable, some of my platoon insisted that it was better than they'd eaten at home.

Hi Went through Cornwallis in '81 too , much the same impression except I remember the fish and chips were better than anything I had growing up and when they let up off base I used to have Digby scallops and Black Tower Rhine wine, I thought that was quite a foodie experience at 17 .

[suzilightning]

there is a small contingent of army and marines here on picatinny. there is no mess here but there is The Club - now for both co and nco's which serves some of the worst catered food i have ever eaten. their restaurant service, Muldoon's, is marginally better i believe. there is also Choices which is the cafeteria offering sandwiches, grill, a pasta bar, salad bar, etc. johnnybird eats there about once every two weeks and says the soups and wraps are pretty good. then there is L'il Skeeters which opened about 2 years ago. how you can do bbq without a pit befuddles me. they do have really good homemade coleslaw and one of the cooks comes from puebla originally and makes killer tex-mex with a bit more mex snuck in. i'm still trying to get him to put menudo and cabrito on the menu

[chromedome]

The Digby scallops hold up well...don't know about the Black Tower wine, though...

[chow guy]

Food during basic trainning at Ft. Ord in '68 was plentiful, and the only confort during a long hard day, so I never noticed how bad it might have been. I was then stationed at the Presidio of Monterey at the Language Institue for 9 months and the food was actually good.When I got shipped to Korea the food took a turn for the worse. Everything was either canned, reconstituted or thawed.

I had a great job (as entertainment specialist) so I lived at the entertainment workshop and often ate at the golf course next door or off base out in the village. I practically lived on Bibimbop, kimchi and Yaki Mandu (which were very inexpensive).

[Chris Cognac]

I remember the creamed beef and toast with fond memories...I had never seen louisiana style hot sauce until I got in the Army at Ft Campbell Ky. All the southern guy would put it on everything....and it was so great on the creamed beef...I ended up keeping a bottle in my grenade pouch in my LBE web gear....that and Tapatio got me through some cold long nights as a grunt.

Now MRE field cooking is a different thing...as a light airborne infantryman I was a "SKILLED" MRE chef and could whip up some mean grub with an MRE.....oh yea the peanut butter, cocoa powder, cracker, powdered cream pudding mixed up in the field...or the water in the cream packet that you could light on fire to make candy...or the chicken ala king, mixed with ramen and boiled in a canteen cup, topped with the cheese packet, cracker packet and hot sauce.....oh yea baby...when it was 10 dg outside and you had been in the woods for weeks, nothing tasted better!

[Jaymes]

By way of explanation, that initial quote by me pertained to military families; most specifically, the officer's corps and the "competitive" entertaining done by the wives.

I doubt that the boys in the barracks, or the cooks in the mess-halls, are jealously guarding their best recipes.

Edited February 13, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[hillvalley]

I wonder what military food is like in other countries? Torakris, gsquared, anyone?

[Beto]

Mayhaw Man is right, I am currently stationed in Kuwait. I'm living in Camp Doha, which by deployed standards, is downright nice when compared to the tent cities that a lot of my fellow soldiers (my cousin included) live in. The food, however, is another story.

We were in Fort Stewart, GA for about a month prior to coming here last December and the food served in the makeshift dining facilities -DFAC for short- was positively awful. Everything came from a can and the sanitary conditions were substandard. I only ate there 3 or 4 times total. MRE's were for lunch and considering that they're designed to last unrefrigerated for years, they aren't that bad.

The positive side was that we were only about 45 minutes from Savannah, which has many good restaurants. With all due respect to North Carolinians, good BBQ is available outside of the Tarheel State! I had a chopped pork sandwich and brunswick stew at Smoky's and it was delicious. The Rib Hut on Bay St. also makes some mean 'Q. Another restaurant which was very good was Sweet Potato. They have a lot of Southern traditional foods to which they have given their twist. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Nouvelle Southern because it usually bears no resemblance whatever to the dish it is based on, but they do a very good job.

But this thread is about military chow, right?

I have 2 words for the aliment that is thrust upon us here: it sucks. Everything is overcooked to the point that the vegetables are mush, the meat is proverbial shoeleather, and the pasta is paste. They have a "surf 'n turf" night on Wednesday but the poor lobster tails are so overdone the mess sergeant should be brought up on charges.

The worst part of it is that it doesn't have to be this way. I've eaten at the chow halls in the aformentioned "tent cities" and the level of quality was WAY higher.

The good news is that I bought a crock pot and an electric skillet and I'm going to start cooking for myself. I'm even going to make a solar oven.

With alcohol illegal in Kuwait, the hard part is going to be finding some wine with which to make a reduction sauce....

[Cusina]

What exactly do you have to work with in that crock pot? Please start your own thread Beto and bring us along on the journey. I want to hear about building the solar oven too. Do an in the field blog for us.

[crinoidgirl]

I second that - it could be useful for those of us who cook in tight places and reduced circumstances.

Plus I live with a former drill sarge, and could use some insight.

V

[Jaymes]

Not to mention that you've got some real fans here (and grateful supporters) that most likely would be happy to send you some ingredients.

[Singapore]

Hmmm, I once got some cooking rice wine on board my ship. The label was in chinese, and since it was in a dark bottle, I convinced everyone it was soy sauce.

[Mabelline]

Name something you want that I can send you, and its yours. Thanks.

E-Mail me.

Edited February 15, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[StInGeR]

there is a small contingent of army and marines here on picatinny. there is no mess here but there is The Club - now for both co and nco's which serves some of the worst catered food i have ever eaten. their restaurant service, Muldoon's, is marginally better i believe. there is also Choices which is the cafeteria offering sandwiches, grill, a pasta bar, salad bar, etc. johnnybird eats there about once every two weeks and says the soups and wraps are pretty good. then there is L'il Skeeters which opened about 2 years ago. how you can do bbq without a pit befuddles me. they do have really good homemade coleslaw and one of the cooks comes from puebla originally and makes killer tex-mex with a bit more mex snuck in. i'm still trying to get him to put menudo and cabrito on the menu

Hey Suzi does johnnybird work at picatinny?? My brother in law works out there. Hmm I'll have to ask him about the food there

[Pan]

Hmmm, I once got some cooking rice wine on board my ship. The label was in chinese, and since it was in a dark bottle, I convinced everyone it was soy sauce.

Why'd you do that?

[StInGeR]

I wonder what military food is like in other countries? Torakris, gsquared, anyone?

This is a very hard question as it depends on your status in the Army. I was in The Australian Army for a long period of time and found it to be good, however I was also an officer candidate and then an officer. At Duntroon (the equiv of Westpoint), the food was basic but good. There was basically a hot buffet and a carvery ... food ranged from fish and chips, to roast beef, chicken, pork and all the trimmings or you could just grab a sandwich or salad. On base there was also an ATCO which was an on base food shop which you only went to when you needed a fill of saturated fat

After Duntroon I was posted to Sydney, Adelaide and Darwin where as an officer the food in the mess was of more restaurant quality. There was a menu and you could order such things as whole panfired barrumundi, rib steaks cooked to your liking, lamb chops etc etc etc There was also always the choice of a salad or a roast.

Overseas stints included trips to the US, the UK, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia for training and exercises. I found the Asian countries to be interesting in that the food was condusive to the region you were in lots of chili, asian herbs and spices and alot of god knows what it is but it tastes good The US and UK were pretty much similar to the Officer's mess' in Australia, decent if not good food but alot fo the time we found ourselves eating off base with other soldiers just to try the local food (we did the same in Asia).

Having lived on mess tent grub and MRE's during Gulf War 1 and various exercises all I can say is thank god my stint in Kuwait, Saudi and Iraq were only for 6 months The food isn't really for taste more nutritional and calorific value, mind you I'm still wondering if there was any value in all in some of the things we ate Damn those camels started looking good after awhile

Regards

Tom

[chromedome]

It is worth noting, btw, that most military establishments do maintain some very capable chefs for their VIP-entertaining. On larger bases the base commander may have a chef assigned for wining and dining visiting dignitaries; and the chefs assigned to travelling government officials and heads of state are often military.

Military chefs have their own version of the Culinary Olympics.

One of my former instructors spent several years at one of the Canadian bases in Germany which were part of our NATO commitment. It was a transformative experience for him. He later became the "road" chef to senior government officials and visiting royalty, among others. And you know he didn't serve the Queen Mum chipped beef on toast...

[SobaAddict70]

Did I mention that in order to join the Navy, I had to gain 5 lbs. in 2 months? I was 6'1" and 133 when I weighed in the first time. Keep in mind I was 17 at the time. (I'm 33 now, and not a helluva lot heavier either. ) Back then, I didn't know what I know now as far as weight gain was concerned. I pretty much ate everything in sight -- and added a couple of cans of baby food formula each day. The day of the weigh in, my recruitment officer told me to drink a GALLON of water in order to be able to make it past the weigh in.

I was in agony for 4 hours b/c I was told among other things "that you had better not take a piss or else you'd be toast". I had gotten to the center at 9 am and didn't get weighed until shortly past 1 pm. Needless to say, I made the weigh-in, whereupon I immediately dashed for the bathroom.

Meals at boot camp -- at the RTC I went to (RTC stands for "Recruitment Training Center", which is the really fancy name for "boot camp"; there used to be three Navy RTCs, now there are two. Can't remember whether it was Great Lakes or SD that got shut down), your entire company goes at the same time. Keep in mind that there are 100 guys, +/- a few in a company, and 10 companies in a division or class. It's never a solo experience...you get treated to the full range of the human experience, as far as etiquette is concerned. I'm talking about watching people eat with their mouths open. (A really vivid memory, that one. ) As I said, my recollection has more or less faded, except for the mind-numbingly boring breakfasts. It was the first time I had seen hot sauce put on scrambled eggs. Come to think of it, Frosted Flakes and Sugar Snaps were also a regular staple.

Soba

[Pan]

You were really determined to get into the Navy, no matter what!

[bleudauvergne]

And you know he didn't serve the Queen Mum chipped beef on toast... 

Has anyone noted the nickname for that wonderful dish? Hint (s.o.s.)

- Lucy

[Jaymes]

Did I mention that in order to join the Navy,

So, did you make it to Olongapo? Do you know the song?

"Olongapo, Olongapo, oh how I love Olongapo. That horny town outside the gate; drink San Miguel and......"