On the radio today I heard an interview with one of Australia’s senior officers in Iraq about what would be happening in terms of Anzac Day ceremonies. He said they would have a dawn service but after that it would be a normal working day except for a barbeque in the afternoon to give the troops a break from the American cooking. The host asked what was wrong with the American food and the officer explained that lots of the Aussies had trouble adjusting because everything was too sweet for Aussie tastes. The one example he gave was breakfast cereal. He said that all of it, even the muesli was like Australian children’s cereals.
So what else was he talking about? Apparently they are all being fed in some massive mess hall. What would they be getting?
I’ve eaten in US chow halls in Iraq. A lot of the food is processed goop and is pretty familiar to anyone who ate in the dining hall at college in the US: salsbury steak, hot dogs, canned spaghetti.
Breakfast cereal is stuff like frosted flakes, corn flakes, etc. Americans do eat a lot of processed food loaded with sugar and this is really ramped up anytime it is institutional food for thousands of people. The chow halls I was in had very little that wasn’t processed, with the exception of some tomato slices and lettuce for burgers.
Up here at Bagram, the chow halls . . . whoops, “DFACs” are run by KRB–a contractor. “Why a contractor?” you may ask. It’s because the Army wants its soldiers out fighting the war, not running base support functions which can be outsourced. If they are running base support functions, its most likely at the tactical level out at the FOBs.
In any case, the food here is pretty good. Granted, they are mass produced as madmonk28 says, much like “college cafeteria food”, but here they do come out with fresh stuff usually once or twice a week–last night they were carving roast turkey breast.
But, there are a lot of “grab and go” stuff, like prepackaged American cereal, donuts, bags ‘o’ chips, etc. I rarely eat this stuff because it is so processed. As far as the main serving line though, it’s actually a step or two above cafeteria food. Then again, I am American, so maybe my tastes have been skewed just because I don’t know any better. . .
Tripler
My waistline may tell you differently, though.
When my brother was in Afghanistan, they had a local guy cooking for them on their firebase. He had worked in NYC as a chef for years after his visa ran out, and was discovered and deported after 9/11.
He hoped that by keeping “his” army troops well-fed and happy, it might help him get back “home.”
They ate like kings, both local cuisine and homestyle stuff.
I don’t know how relevant it is, but I once read a book by an American soldier stationed in Australia during WWII. However eager the Australians are to get a break from American food is nothing compared to how eager he was to get a break from Australian food. I have a feeling that grumblin’ about foreign chow is one of the constants of military life.
Gigantic portions of everything, with way too much salt/sugar/addititives and very little actual flavour. That seems to be the usual kvetch people come up with regarding american food.
Rube E. Tewesday - that’s one of the constants of spending an extended period abroad. It’s surprising how quickly you can go from “Mmmmmm, the local stuff is nice” to “God damn it, why can’t these higgnerant fools make food the way ma used to”.
Although I can imagine military cooking in Australia during rationing was a truly horrific culinary experience. :eek:
Tripler-
I just left Bagram. There is a DFAC run by the Army. It’s the Freedom Fighter cafe in Camp Albert. The food is pretty good. Their lunchtime sandwich bar is better than the Subway on post.
But back to the OP…military food typically sucks. How good could it possibly be when making a meal for thousands of people? I think that’s the biggest part of it. Making such a huge amount then having tobe able to do the same thing 3 hours later.
It can’t be much worse than the B rations we had in the 80s. When I was in the National Guard we were given B rations for our 2 weeks’ annual training. B rations are all canned, freeze-dryed or otherwise preserved. Reconsituted powdered scrambled eggs for breafast. Reconstituted dehydrated chili con carne for lunch. Sometimes more of the same recon chili for dinner. LuRPS (Long-Range Patrol) rations weren’t that bad, they were typically canned food that took very little preperation. The barbecued pork slices were OK, but a little on the sweet side.
At the end of the 2 weeks everyone was craving fresh food and most of us had really bad gas from all the chili & eggs.
I’ve never been in the service or eaten in a US military canteen, however I’m familiar with US MREs - a friend of mine is former US Army and started bringing them to our semi-annual Yosemite trips for lunch on the trail.
They’re really quite good - decent selection of entrees, comes with drinks, crackers, jam, cheese (spread), dessert, condiments, even a wetnap and some chiclets to freshen your breath afterwards. Precooked and comes with a self-heating pouch (just add water) so you can have piping hot food in about ten minutes. For processed food it wasn’t too sweet or salty.
Live on them for two weeks and then tell us what you think.
Any mass-feeding has to pander to the lowest-common tastebud. Inevitably the food will be bland, unexciting and virtually tasteless. This applies to military messes, industrial cafeterias, awards banquets, school lunches…it doesn’t matter. But occasionally you find a cook that knows what to do with the materials s/he is given, and Chicken ala King goes from glop to gustatory delight. Such people are rare, and are to be treasured.
Side story: We used to have a lunchlady at my school named Judy. She was one of those geniuses. Boy, did she take care of us. She made lunchtime a treat for the faculty. One day she made the aforementioned Chicken ala King. Several of us stopped, looked at it, and accused her of having a copy of TM 10-419 on her desk. But over fresh-baked biscuits…heavenly. Of course she retired last year, and now I have to bring my lunch if I want anything good to eat.
Even back in the good old days of Class B in the mess hall and C Rations in the field, the veteran soldier carried a little bottle of some off brand Louisiana hot sauce and his own roll of toilet paper.
Unless you had a tremendous mess steward and a bang up mess sergeant you just had to get use to the idea that mess hall food was not going to be up to your mother’s standard. The objective is to shove the young soldier full of vitamins and minerals, adequate calories and still have his bowels work.
*They feed us lousy chow, but we stay alive, somehow
On dehydrated eggs & milk & stew
Rumour has it next, they’ll be dehydrating sex
Well, that’s the day I’ll tell the coach I’m through
For I’ve managed all the dangers
The shooting back of strangers
But, when I get home late
I want my woman straight, buster
I wanted wings 'til I got the goddamned things
Now I don’t want them anymore!*
Actually, I’ve never been in the military. Certainly not when that song was written. But it’s what I thought of when I saw the title.
For three weeks after Katrina we ate MREs and they are damn tasty. I’ve got 4 cases of the things left for future camping trips. Certain things sucked but most were very good.
I ate at a government cafeteria for two months. For the 1st month, I was pleasantly surprised at the very low prices and the above average food. Not great mind you, somewhat bland, but a hell of a bargain at that price, and I couldn’t figue out why all the employees bitched and moaned about the food there. But after a bit, I noticed that the menue hardly changed and after 6 weeks I found myself going out to taco hell or the “roach coach” with most of the regular employees. (here is where we really need that “yucky” emoticon)
I have also eated C-rats and MRE’s (and MREs are hwaaaaayyyy better, IMHO), - never for more than two weeks- but still I can see the same problem after you eat them for months on end. Tasty, filling, not bad, but a little bland and I’d certainly see where after eating them for months on end would be booooring. Note that I have also had Canadian MRE’s, and can’t see them as much different, but apparently Brit, Canuck and Yank GI’s all exchange theirs back and forth and swear the "other guys’ have the better food.
There is a long-standing tradition of swapping rations, just for something different to eat. I’ve had MREs, LRRPs, C-rats, Canadian IMPs, German rations, and maybe a few others. MREs and IMPs are the best IMO. But there is a reason they pack little bottles of Tabasco sauce in them. I keep several cases of MREs and IMPs on hand for camping and earthquake supplies.
I’ve had Canadian, American, and Brit meals, and I can’t say there’s a huge difference amongst them. American MREs tend to have more condiments and extra candies and such, which is nice, but the main meals are essentially the same.
Now, if we’re talking about mess hall food, well, The Canadians definitely have the edge. American is OK, but like the others say, a little bland and not as polished. I’ve only been to US bases in the south, so they included regional delicacies like creamed beef that were fun to try.
A lot of our guys simply can’t stand Brit food, but I personally love it. British food in general is an aquired taste, I guess. Basically typical British fare: Yorkshire pudding, all kinds of curry, all the Brit organ meats, heavy on the fried fare.
FWIW Americans and Brits that we have dined with in Canadian mess halls never failed to compliment our cooks and our cuisine, and seem to consider ours superior to their own.
I think this is a universal military hobby as regards ANYTHING that isn’t nailed down, too big to shift, or guarded by homicidal NCOs. If squaddies could trade tanks with each other they probably would. My friend still goes on about how he managed to swap his issue beret for a nice comfy GI camp bed - he regards it as the deal of the century, while somewhere in the US a dude probably has a brit beret hung on his wall and a story about how he aquired for some crappy camp bed.
I’ve had alot of different NATO country rations, plus Russian ones. No doubt MREs are better than CRations. US arctic rations or whatever they call the high calorie ones are even slightly better. But I don’t like the stupid chemical heaters in MREs. British meals aren’t so good but the heater works much better and can be used to start a real fire if needed. French and German ones are OK eating. The Tray Rations that US military folks get when available are actually pretty good food. Russian meals are unspeakably awful (fish paste, mystery meat in tins, etc).
I’ve never understood the hate for c-rats. They weren’t, IMO, any worse than canned food that you’d buy in the grocery store. My only criticism of them was the limited selection.
Well, there was that news story from a few years ago about a Russian tank crew who swapped their tank to a farmer for a few cases of vodka and some food.
