An Army marches on its stomach, the Air Force flies with arugula.
The restaurant describes its main course portions in ounces.
All 40,000 of them. That’s a ton and a quarter of a light lunch, not counting the side dishes and salad.
Welcome to Mitchell Hall, the Air Force Academy’s legendary dining hall that 60 years into the school’s history remains the Defense Department’s reigning champion of the military meal.
The facility on a daily basis serves a sit-down lunch for 4,000 cadets, who are served at their tables by waiters. The whole process from passing the milk to finishing the dessert runs a precise 23 minutes.
“It’s the cleanup that takes the time,” said Ed “Fitz” Fitzhenry, director of cadet food services at the academy.
In recent years, the dining hall has trimmed its staff – down to 174 civilian Defense Department workers who churn out three meals a day in a kitchen with oversized appliances.
It also has tried to trim the fat on plates as the military pushes for a healthier diet.
Now cadets get fresh fish – salmon was on the menu last week – and vegetables to go with traditional favorites.
“It’s something the cadets look forward to,” said Shelly Morales, the dietitian who assembles the school’s menus.