Getting into the army, the young man for the first time breaks away not only from home, but also from mother's kitchen. Developing an army diet, nutritionists focus on calorie content and usefulness, leaving taste "overboard". Balanced food may not be as tasty as homemade food, but it fully meets the requirements of a young, healthy male body.
Pearl barley … pearl barley …
Back in the early 2000s, the food situation in the Russian army was dire. Since then, there have been rumors about pearl barley porridge and bigos - canned boiled cabbage - sticking to the plates. In 2012, the army kitchen was transferred to civilian organizations, and the situation has improved markedly. The norms of combined-arms rations were changed, and a system for monitoring soldiers' food was developed.
The army diet is balanced and high in calories. It is developed taking into account the needs of the body of a young, healthy man who exposes his body to regular physical activity. The soldier must eat and receive the required amount of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins. Specialists in military nutrition somehow do not think about taste.
Many soldiers complain about not eating enough. In their explanations, the "fathers-commanders" point out that in civilian life, future soldiers ate homemade food, not on schedule. That is, they ate when they wanted, without looking back at the daily routine. In the army, meals are carried out strictly according to the schedule. Physical activity and being in the fresh air induce appetite, and sometimes the soldier "falls short" of the due time and begins to feel severe hunger. After a few months, the body rebuilds, the soldier gets used to eating according to the schedule, and the feeling of hunger arises at the moment set by the charter.
The opinion of the soldiers themselves
The soldiers themselves believe that the quality of food directly depends on the unit in which the service takes place. The smaller the portion, the more attention is paid to the taste of the dishes. This is easy to explain. With the same rate of food bookmarking, preparing delicious food for, say, fifty people is much easier than a thousand. In addition, in a small part, the number of warrant officers and officers who want to get their share of the soldiers' ration is less than in a huge regiment.
The longer a soldier serves, the easier it is for him to get an extra ration for himself. Over time, contacts are made, authority appears, acquaintances are made among the kitchen staff. After six months of service, you can "grab" some bread from the grain-cutter or learn how to go through the second round in the dining room. The more experienced a soldier becomes, the more money he begins to have, the less he has to pay "tribute" from his home parcels. Therefore, by the end of the service, the ration is supplemented with delicacies bought for money in the buffet (sausages, buns) and products sent by mom in a parcel (bacon, cookies, canned food).
