The Best, and Worst, in Kabul Military Dining
By ANDREW SAND
(U.S. Navy Reservist Andrew Sand is currently deployed to Afghanistan and occasionally sends blogs to the New York Times for publishing. In his last blog, he talks about the food available to troops deployed over there. What he found was that in order for troops to really get a decent meal, they had to travel to FRENCH or BRITISH bases. Read some excerpts from his blog.)
I've risked my life in Afghanistan for a plate of French cheese. While not as arduous as serving in rural Afghanistan, the prisonlike conditions on Kabul bases ? no family, long hours, repetitive food and confined spaces ? often drive service members to extremes to escape the pressure and keep up their spirits.
Camp Warehouse DFAC
Rating: 4 Exploding Stars
The premier military dining facility in Kabul. Dashing Frenchmen sport oversize berets. A 30-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower looms over plates of creamy Camembert and smoky Gouda. French chefs serve up authentic French fries, crisp and hot. And fresh sole with a lemon cream sauce in a landlocked country ? how did they do that? At this quaint French base, meals end sweetly, with rare deployment joy found in the delicate bûche de Noël. All in all, an exquisite dining experience that brings a bit of Paris to Kabul.
Camp Eggers DFAC
Rating: 2 Exploding Stars
Camp Eggers has two dining facilities ? Goat and Marshall, for double the capacity and double the mediocrity. Fake Tex-Mex, fake roast beef, fake turkey and fake burgers. Even the real steak tastes fake. Given the selection, most meals ultimately degrade into some combination of cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and saltine crackers. Slightly better than eating field rations in the mountains while evading insurgents, but not by much.
Camp Julien DFAC
Rating: 1 Exploding Stars
"The food at Camp Julien was revolting and unhealthy.... I'd rather eat shell casings...."
- Anonymous U.S. Special Operations service member
You can read the full article HERE which rates 6 overseas dining facilities:
