Home
Iraq Up Close Blog
About This Site
Newsletter
Contact Us
Prayer
Jobs
Care Packages
Military Bases
Latest News in Iraq
Holidays
Politics In Iraq
Money
Accomodations
Religion
Shopping
9/11 And The War
First Gulf War
2nd Gulf War
Attacks
Geography
Weather
Eating In Iraq
Beheadings
Civilian Travel
Creatures
History of Iraq
Ancient Iraq
Democrats
Afghanistan
Pakistan
News From Iraq
Dedication to Tommy
Store/Links

XML RSS
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Add to Google

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. Now, those terms are not used. The correct name for the dining facility is the defac.

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.


Food Experiences In Iraq

Do you have good or awful stories about food in Iraq? We'd enjoy hearing them.

Enter Your Title

Tell Us Your Story! [ ? ]

Close Help

Entering your story is easy to do. Just type!...

Your story will appear on a Web page exactly the way you enter it here. You can wrap a word in square brackets to make it appear bold. For example [my story] would show as my story on the Web page containing your story.

TIP: Since most people scan Web pages, include your best thoughts in your first paragraph.

Upload A Picture (optional) [ ? ]

Close Help

Do you have a picture to add? Great! Click the button and find it on your computer. Then select it.

Add Picture Caption (optional) 

Author Information (optional)

To receive credit as the author, enter your information below.

Your Name

(first or full name)

Your Location

(ex. City, State, Country)

Submit Your Contribution

Check box to agree to these submission guidelines.


(You can preview and edit on the next page)

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Defac At TQ  starstarstarstarstar
I spent a good part of 2007 stationed at Camp Taqaddum. The defac at TQ is top notch, one of the finest I have experienced since I joined the Army. The ...

Fast Food In Iraq  starstarstarstarstar
During my stay at TQ, I noticed that there were no fast food places. On most bases there is fast food in Iraq and it is so good. Since I was on a fact ...


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. StarbucksStore.com

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.

Anyway, there is a lot of food in Iraq to eat.

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.

Return from Food In Iraq to Home



footer for food in iraq page