What about chow hall food

Nathan

Nathan

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Location
High Desert- Calif.
How was the chow hall food when you were in the service? What prompted me to think of it was a cartoon on Facebook that showed a rat throwing up outside a chow hall. I was in the Army but never ran into the stereotype "army chow" that has been a running joke for decades. Everywhere I ever ate while in the Army had great food.
Of course, being a young man 17 to 19 I was pretty easy to please. ;)
 

I usually ate two breakfasts a day. I was on 12 hr shifts 8 PM to 8 AM. So, what would have been my "lunch" was at about 2 AM, and they only served breakfast at that time, and then when I got off at 8 AM, it was breakfast again. However, the food was good. After I became a Seargent, I could order special made omelets, so it was a step up from the regular chow, and even better tasting.
 

hearlady said:
I was a breakfast cook at the NCO club at Howard AFB in Panama, 1979.
My S.O.S.was great, I was told, but I put too much mayo on the sandwiches, I was also told.
It was hard work but fun! I never had a rat throw my food up! 😊
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Lol, is mayonnaise all that expensive? My dad he was told he put too much mayo on sandwiches, when he was working a job in college in the 1930s.
 
Nathan said:
How was the chow hall food when you were in the service? What prompted me to think of it was a cartoon on Facebook that showed a rat throwing up outside a chow hall. I was in the Army but never ran into the stereotype "army chow" that has been a running joke for decades. Everywhere I ever ate while in the Army had great food.
Of course, being a young man 17 to 19 I was pretty easy to please. ;)
Click to expand...
Heck I can from a poor family the food to me was great and plenty of it
 
My father served with the Army Airborne during World War II. He was stationed in New Guinea.
In a letter to his sister (my Aunt Evelyn), dated November 25, 1943, 4:00 am, he wrote:
"Well today is Thanksgiving Day, and we are having a regular Thanksgiving dinner. Here's what we're having, roast turkey, gravy, onion dressing, mashed potatoes, creamed peas, sweet relish, cranberry sauce, pumpkin cobbler, fruit cocktail, candy, hot rolls, butter, and cold tea. That's not bad for being in New Guinea is it? Gee, I hope that I'm back in the states next Thanksgiving Day."
 
Here's a story that my dad told me:

His ship was in Yokohama for a few weeks at the end of the war. They were moored next to a British Navy ship.

One day, several Limeys came over to visit and were being shown by my dad and a few others through the ship. They came into the galley and found one of the cooks getting ready to empty half a large pot of chocolate pudding down the drain.

Apparently, the food on British ships wasn't very good and they were aghast that something like chocolate pudding was being thrown out. They asked if they could have it. The cook agreed, just asking them to return the pot as soon as possible.

They grabbed the pot of pudding and made tracks back to their ship, inviting Dad and his shipmates to make a visit to their ship. Very shortly afterward, the order for liberty was given and Dad and a few guys decided to go visit the British ship.

When they got there, they found the Limeys sitting in a corner of the deck around the pot of chocolate pudding, eating it as fast as they could with their fingers. One of them looked up and cried, "You cahn't have it back! You gave it to us, you know!"

Dad said that for the week or so that the British ship was next to them, there was a steady stream of Limeys heading over to visit......
 
Nathan said:
How was the chow hall food when you were in the service? What prompted me to think of it was a cartoon on Facebook that showed a rat throwing up outside a chow hall. I was in the Army but never ran into the stereotype "army chow" that has been a running joke for decades. Everywhere I ever ate while in the Army had great food.
Of course, being a young man 17 to 19 I was pretty easy to please. ;)
Click to expand...
My grand-uncle had trained for WWII but he was, reportedly so good in training his troops that he never went on the front, precisely where he'd wanted to be.

Therefore, his Master-at-arms sent him off to a College of Cooking to become a Chef. Afterwards, he fed the troops during the cleanup portions in France.

He got to work as a sous chef at a famous Hotel. However, one night, the kitchen was very busy and a tray of prime steaks crashed to the floor. Said floor at the time, was covered in wood shavings in order to catch the spills. Yes, I found that strange when I heard about it.

Grand-uncle refused to serve those now spoiled steaks to highly revered customers. That grand hotel was the height of luxury. Nevertheless, the chef insisted on them steaks being rinsed under hot water and out on the grill.

Grand-uncle refused and quit right there and then. Yet, the man made meals that really spoiled the bakers dozen of us. To this day, I still serve my Eggs Benedict with the same recipe of cheese sauce he made.

The man knew how to cook and would have made any possible bride happy. Sadly, he never found the love of his life.
 
In Navy boot camp our meals were timed
I can't remember across the decades but it was either 3 or 5 minutes to eat
No time for chat, just eat as fast as you possibly could
Even so, I did manage to put on between 15 and 20 pounds

Aboard ship, sometimes we'd be treated to surf 'n turf
Regardless of ship, the steaks were always tough as shoe leather
On my first (of four) ship, we had rabbit served in the meal rotation
Very lean and stringy, rabbit came in 15lb boxes

Deployed, we never got fresh milk, always high-temp milk
Outside the USA, best food that came onboard was sourced from Denmark
Outstanding fruits and veggies
 
At Camp Lejeune, it was about what I expected. It wasn’t terribly bad, but it wasn’t great either. The worse thing I ate was meatloaf. We called it “Meatloaf Wednesday.” In the Marines, we worked our butts off all day, so the food was good. Not too many of us complained. The worse thing we were served was the meatloaf, but the breakfasts were good.
 
Never thought food produced in mass would be gourmet but overall the meals weren't to bad. Probably the best were at the Naval air station in Lakehurst. Steak day as I remember was especially good. Learned to like langosta when it was served at Naval air station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico.
 
My brother, who was in the Army at the time, came to my base in California to attend a Tech School.
We met for lunch at the Chow Hall and he was dumbfounded.

China Plates, a Civilian cook slicing the roast beef and your choice of deserts.
Told him if this was not what he wanted, there was a snack section that had Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Fries, etc.

He just stared at me and said the main line would be Ok.

Told him it was an 'off-day, things are usually better' and that he was probably used to better chow.

Again, that Puzzled look from him.

I just smiled...
 


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