Food In Iraq

The food in Iraq consumed by our troops and civilians is provided by the United States military and other sources.

The military provides dining facilities at all of its bases around the world.

When my father was in the Army, the dining facility was called a mess hall or chow tent. The defac or dining facility serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner to military personnel and to civilians alike.

The defac serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner to military personnel and to civilians alike.

Another place to get food, believe it or not, is at fast food restaurants. Just like in the U.S., fast food has found its way to Iraq. Different bases have different fast food places but eating in Iraq just got better.

Some bases also have sit-down restaurants. No, not five star gourmet places, but the food is good and some have a nice variety.

The place where we go for snack foods, such as chips, chocolate, and soda is the PX, the on-base supermarket.

This page on food in Iraq would not be complete without mentioning another yummy source of food that is really not all that bad and is much better than starving when out in the field. It is the MRE or Meal Ready to Eat.

There are some fairly tasty selections and each meal comes with some toilet paper and matches. These are mainly used out in the field, away from the bases. But taste does not really matter much out in the desert. It all tastes like sand when you are out there in the hot sun and the wind is tossing sand around.

Both when I was in the Army and as a civilian in Saudi Arabia and in Iraq, I have eaten a lot of MRE's and they are much better than you would think. Once the meal is heated, it is tolerable.

One of the things I have noticed about us older folks (40+) is that we tend to put on weight with the food in Iraq. Americans over 40 are usually supervisors and do not burn the calories like we do back in the US. If you fight the battle of the bulge in America, you will fight it here, only worse.

In the first six months I was in Iraq, I lost 50 pounds. I would go home on R&R and put a little back on and then come back to Iraq and lose it again. Each time I would go home, I would eat too much and put on weight.

The defac makes a huge variety and it looks good. I always want too much. But I discovered how to lose weight here. Here is the secret. I put everything I want on my plate. Then I eat half of each item and throw the rest away. It works. I lost 50 pounds doing this.

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