In recent years, the Army across the world and US has been modernizing its culinary services. This transformation process includes every step of the process, from food acquisition to its preparation, delivery, and access to the soldiers. Moreover, soldiers are encouraged to learn and provided with courses on nutrition. Every detail of the transformation was assessed and researched to guarantee the best outcomes. As a result, across the US, multiple food installations were implemented with positive reactions from soldiers. This change was a long overdue necessity, as the culinary services were not updated to suit the modern realities for several decades. Not only the personnel was not satisfied with the food and its delivery, but the system was outdated, failing to adapt to the current acquisition pathways, making it less effective. However, the transformation was not without critique, as some doubted even the possibility of a positive shift in food service, concerned with the decrease in the food’s nutritional quality. Despite these concerns, my stance is that culinary modernization in the army can lead to improvement in four major ways: food acquisition, preparation, delivery and access, and education.
Food Acquisition
The main purpose of the modernization of food acquisition in the Army is to build food supply networks that provide safe, nutritious, and high-quality ingredients. It is one of the most important parts of each food service structure, as, without fresh and proper ingredients, it is impossible to proceed to other steps. Furthermore, this process is crucial in addressing the critique of culinary modernization, as it claims the possible food quality decrease. In the case of the US Army, the ingredient quality was undiversified and relatively poor before the change. The meals consisted of a small variety of products, contributing to nutrient deficiency in some vitamins and minerals. Moreover, this consistency negatively influenced the soldier’s reaction to food. Thus, after the change, their excitement was partially due to the new variety of foods. Another part of it was the way the food was prepared.
Food Preparation
To further improve and modernize eating behaviors, food preparation change focuses on the improvement of recipes, provision of snack options, and the possibility of independent cooking. One of the most expected sectors of transformation in food preparation is recipes. However, it is only one part of culinary modernization. Modern times brought the prevalence of snaking into the eating culture (Motta & Martín, 2021). Therefore, proper modernization is bound to include the provision of snacks. Beyond providing the soldier the comfort of familiarity, healthy snacks are also quick sources of energy during physically demanding military service. Similar to snacks, independent cooking gives the personnel opportunity to engage in familiar activities and the freedom to choose their nutritional options. Another source of comfort for the soldiers can be in the way the food is delivered.
Food Delivery and Access
The primary objective of this part of the process is guaranteeing easy access for the personnel to freshly prepared and safe food. This goal is achieved by designing multiple installations that not only serve their purpose but attract the soldiers, motivating their appetite toward healthy options. In other words, the big task of these food installments is to provide food security to the people. This part is crucial for effective service, as only with proper nutrition can the soldiers safely and quickly recover from injuries and sustain health through physical demands. Furthermore, healthy eating is linked to mental health, which is important to the person to preserve through difficulties. Thus, positive feelings, including the comfort mentioned above, are necessary to establish in relation to eating to ensure proper nutrition and stress relief. In the case of the US, the new food kiosks saw a positive reaction from soldiers and an improvement in healthy eating. They emphasize how much they waited for this exact change. Another important part of this change beyond food delivery and access is the educational aspect.
Nutritional Education
Throughout the stages of culinary modernization, it is easy to see how the transformation teaches the soldiers about healthy eating habits indirectly. The main factor of this indirect approach is to show them the taste of quality food, building positive associations between healthy food options and overall satisfaction. Currently, the world and US are going through an epidemic of unhealthy eating and physical conditions that relates to the former, including obesity, diabetes, and even mental health disorders (Jia et al., 2019). Therefore, it is an urgent matter for the military to educate their staff about nutrition to avoid these negative outcomes. In the US Army’s culinary modernization case, the soldiers were also supplied with direct guidance on the questions about a healthy diet. This change represents the best practice in the culinary transformation to suit modern conditions.
Conclusion
Overall, despite the concerns about the quality of food, my stance is that culinary modernization proves to improve the health outcomes in the Army. The primary driver of the positive shift is an inherent adaptation of food systems to the current reality. It guarantees not only increased variety and heightened nutritional profile of the food but deals with modern issues. These problems include food security, unhealthy relationship with food, and a lack of general knowledge and motivation to eat healthily.
References
Jia, P., Luo, M., Li, Y., Zheng, J. S., Xiao, Q., & Luo, J. (2019). Fast-food restaurant, unhealthy eating, and childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews, 22, e12944. Web.
Motta, R., & Martín, E. (2021). Food and social change: Culinary elites, contested technologies, food movements and embodied social change in food practices.The Sociological Review, 69(3), 503-519. Web.