Accomodation of ethical or religious food preferences at the DFAC
I imagine it would be pretty difficult to be a vegetarian soldier. I mean sure, the veggie burger MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) actually isn't bad despite its ghastly appearance, but the cheese omelette MRE is God-awful, consistent with its unappetizing appearance. No amount of Tabasco can lessen the disappointment of getting an omelette MRE.
The DFACs (Dining Facilities) don't help much. Sure, they'll label vegetarian entrees as such and will usually have one available, but I would imagine that vegetarians would tire of an alternating diet between spinach lasagna and vegetable stir fry every day. Perhaps they dream of eggplant parmesan or even soy burgers. And that makes me sad. The best is the DFAC when I was in AIT (Advanced Individual Training - job specific training after basic combat training) - they went ahead and labeled all their fish entrees as "Vegetarian." I would chuckle every time I saw a card with "Southern Fried Catfish (Vegetarian)." I mean, I'm not an expert on biological taxonomy, but I'm pretty sure fish is not a vegetable.
I shudder to think of what hoops those with kosher, halal, or vegan diets have to jump through to ensure compliance with their own dietary standards. Ah they probably get money instead of a meal card.
Photo licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 2.0 license by Flickr user Ribarnica.
Don't you remember the sudden rash of airmen and sailors turning to veganism in CA? Certainly didn't have anything to do with the Air Force and Navy giving them BAS.
Posted by
Evan |
December 24, 2007 11:03 AM