Food in the Military: Experiences of Slovenian Soldiers on Deployments Abroad

Since "an army marches on its stomach" (Napoleon), it is no surprise that food receives a great deal of attention in the military, with meals being the most important events of the day, to which operational work is also subordinated. Military dining facilities (can) have a special significance as well. However, despite such impressions, military nutrition in the armed forces is far from a well-regulated area, and soldiers naturally have their own tastes and often complain about the food. Nutrition is an especially difficult challenge in multinational environments during missions abroad. In the research on the Slovenian Armed Forces in peace operations, which my colleagues and I conducted from 2003 to 2008, we also touched upon this area. We found that there were generally no complaints about the quantity of food, but dissatisfaction arose among soldiers due to the monotony of the same type of food, mismatches in the tastes of different national cuisines, different national policies regarding alcohol consumption with meals, poor food preparation, etc. The in-theatre activities present an additional challenge, as operational ration packs are used. Although these packs contain enough food (a one-day supply in a meal-ready-to-eat packet), soldiers quickly grow tired of such meals, especially if logistics does not provide a variety of packs.