USNA Food and other issues

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greeneagle5

10-Year Member
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With mids currently heading home for Christmas has anyone gotten new info on the problems with meal quality and shortages at King Hall that were experienced earlier this year ? Have most of these issues been resolved or getting better ?
Thanks,
G5
 
Posted on that other board, may answer your question

This was posted on CC. today.

"I am a plebe Mom who just welcomed my son home for the holidays. I agree that the powers that be must must request an increased amount of money to feed the midshipmen.
My son has always been on the lean side; usually has a slim athletic build. During plebe summer his 6 ft frame went down to near 140lb and someone noticed and put him on energy drink supplements to keep up. I have great confidence in the system there (second time parenting a mid, never had food issues before this year).
We live far away,and when I pry it out of him he does admit that some meals are just gravy, some they run out of food (but eventually get something). He does not really care much, just trying to make the grade and be a successful plebe. His first trip home at Thanksgiving it did concern me how thin he is, and now that Christmas break is here, he is "painfully thin" to me, his Mom. He isn't the kind of guy who gets hungry, or would complain about that. In order to eat what he needs, he needs it provided or he won't bother to seek it out. The food situation at USNA is therefore of great concern to me, but again, I have faith in the system and believe it will be corrected in time.
With biofuels utilizing lots of our corn crop, it costs more to raise the livestock, produce the milk, etc and food just costs more now. There must be more money allocated to feed the midshipmen. It does not make sense to get private sponsors for some sports teams (which is what is going on), while others do not get enough to eat.
Sorry if this is too long or if I have offended anyone; it must sound terrible to the parents of the 2012 class to read this, but I bet you will have your own , different issues next year!"
 
OK, I feel obligated to answer this since I am one of the few people on this forum that actually eats in King/Dahlgren Hall right now.

Food situation is...better...as compared to the beginning of the year. King Hall really had a problem figuring out the whole "three mando meals a day" thing back in then. Now, they pretty much got it figured out. The only shortage of recent memory was actually this past week (finals). Meal was not mando (rolling tray) so King Hall didn't make enough food thinking that a lot of people wouldn't come down for breakfast. They didn't think that since it was finals, everyone was going to be up already and wanting to eat something before a 3 hour final. Sometimes their logic astounds me. But besides that, if you ever need more food, you can ask someone and get more. That's an improvement.

The food is not as good as it once was, certainly not as good as I had it as a Plebe. The whole shift to the "healthier" menu was alright. Whole grain bread/pasta is good to go - some things aren't, like the turkey bacon. There are still meals that are rejected by all and we just make PB&J sandwiches.

The biggest thing that I feel is contributing to the complaints about King Hall (mine included) is the lack of ability to carry food out of King Hall. This rule was just implemented this year. In the past, anything left on the table was free game to bring up to your room (yogurt, milk, bread, etc.) It was useful stuff to snack on between meals, when you're up late doing homework, or if you happen to miss a meal. Now, only prepackaged items (chips,...that's about it) can be taking out of the dinning hall. The workers WILL chase you down and get the food back...And the best thing is, it will be thrown away anyways! The reason giving is that this is the way the Fleet does it (you don't take food out of the wardroom). Our futile argument is that the "USS Bancroft" is underway 24/7 and we don't get midrats or go home at night to a real meal.

My $.02.
 
Wardroom food removal

Way back in the 80's...

We were not supposed to remove food from the wardroom - a.k.a. King Hall.

We were told that this was to keep the rodent population under control, and because it was "impolite" and against Navy custom to take food from the Wardroom back to your room, or stateroom in a ship.

It was widely ignored stricture, and I have vivid memories of folks carrying whole pies and cartons of milk out of King Hall and back to their rooms for consumption later.

We used to get lots of care packages from home, and we didn't have today's availability of tupperware. I can recall tossing out a lot of food because we found <gulp> mouse droppings in the boxes or packages, and occasionally a live mouse enjoying his/her last meal before taking a ride out a 7-4 window...

I can understand the rodent thing, as I am told by my own two Mids that the descendants of the mice we caught are still living and thriving in Bancroft. No food shortage there... :biggrin:
 
I never felt the necessity to remove food from the wardroom, but that was because I was always fed properly.
 
I seem to recall being allowed to remove fruit (apples, bananas) from King Hall. Of course, our company officer would promptly steal the fruit from mid's rooms and eat it himself. :mad:
 
With typical mid ingenuity, we have come up with creative ways to try to sneak out limited amounts of foodstuffs out of King Hall. They include distracting the workers, carrying them in covers, stuffing Ike jacket pockets, using large groups of people as screens, etc.

Despite our best efforts, you will always see mids lugging back bags of groceries back to the room Sunday evening.

The biggest trend among us Firsties is the George Foreman grills. Great little devices that can heat/grill anything up. Add that to our fridge, and we can eat pretty well (room does start smelling like a backyard cookout though). Now that it's starting to get cold, you start seeing the Goat Court windowsill fridge setups again...
 
I guess everyone has a different "view" of the food situation. My mid says that it is just as bad as always. Still has been situations other than just finals where not enough food was served and had experienced being denied additional food when they asked. (He does eat in King hall not Dalhgrin). As for more healthier he says certain foods are and then certain things are not. He views having had beef only a few times this semester as not very healthy when you need the protein.

Proof of not being feed well is in his weight - went from 150 at beginning to now weighing 142. 8 pound lost is not an endorsement for the food situation.

just this moms thoughts.
 
He views having had beef only a few times this semester as not very healthy when you need the protein.
Click to expand...

one does not need to eat beef to get enough protein in the diet. Even for those who are very athletic and working out regularly.
Perhaps they should include classes on nutrition.

Weight loss - is this from not having access to enough food or not liking the food?
 
Not having access to quality food - he did not particularly "like" the food last year either but did not drop any weight as what was served at least was quality. He says it is both - lack of quality and many instances of really not enough. One does not eat more than their share on the table as that is to deny a shipmate of any food - but it does not mean the He is getting what his body needs to maintain.

When one has grown up on beef, it does do a thing to your system when you are denied. He is a distance runner and knows all about what his body needs. He probably understands good nutrition better than most adults as that has been driven into them over the last 6 years of distance running and running camps. He has had extremely good coaches which have provided nutritional information throughout the past years. He does know what it takes to maintain an athletic body and his view is that King Hall is failing at that mission.
 
So....the talks of athletic teams feeding the athletes separately is not for runners (and probably not swimmers and divers)? football players eat well, I assume?
 
Just read a good post on this Food concern from another source........if it was "policy" for at least one upper tier administrator/officer(on a rotational basis) to be present to observe and eat with the mids at every meal the situation might be formally addressed and improved........perhaps this is already the policy at King Hall.............also....can retired/active flag officers/alumnae assoc. eat meals with the mids ? That might speed up the process of improving any deficiency :thumb: .

Thanks, G5
 
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Anyone really surprised at this from today's Annapolis fish wrapper:

The mids who discussed the matter yesterday said that grousing about the food reflected a broader dissatisfaction at the tighter regs, generally.

"There were disgruntled midshipmen. Of all the changes, that was the easiest thing to complain about," said Midshipman Cormack. "But we certainly never went hungry."
Click to expand...

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_23-10/NAV
 
USNA84 said:
Way back in the 80's...

We were not supposed to remove food from the wardroom - a.k.a. King Hall.

We were told that this was to keep the rodent population under control, and because it was "impolite" and against Navy custom to take food from the Wardroom back to your room, or stateroom in a ship.

It was widely ignored stricture, and I have vivid memories of folks carrying whole pies and cartons of milk out of King Hall and back to their rooms for consumption later.

We used to get lots of care packages from home, and we didn't have today's availability of tupperware. I can recall tossing out a lot of food because we found <gulp> mouse droppings in the boxes or packages, and occasionally a live mouse enjoying his/her last meal before taking a ride out a 7-4 window...

I can understand the rodent thing, as I am told by my own two Mids that the descendants of the mice we caught are still living and thriving in Bancroft. No food shortage there... :biggrin:
Click to expand...

LOL. We killed a few, too, and even had one as a pet for a while. His name was on the door along with mine and my roommate's. :thumb:

I cannot understand the blanket ban, nor can I really come to grips with the idea of a George Foreman grill and a refrigerator in the room. In my day, we could get in trouble for just having one of those silly things they used to sell to heat up a cup of water.

Oh, and back then the food was pretty good. It wasn't Mom's pollo asado or empanadas, but it wasn't bad, either.

Times change. It sucks to get old. :frown:
 
"It sucked, but I would do it again, even with all the changes" the school's new superintendent implemented this academic year, said Midshipman 1st Class Dawn Weaver..
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I love this quote - as bad as it was she would still do it all over again.
Reminds me of raising my children - :wink: :shake:

Reports of food shortages soon surfaced.
"When they have all the side dishes, but run out of main meals half-way through, you get upset," said Midshipman 1st Class Scott Wallace of Annapolis, who will be attending medical school in the fall.
"It happened for several weeks," he said of the shortages. "Then, they started putting out three times what they needed."
Click to expand...
Perhaps they discovered they can survive on "side dishes"? A skill that maybe necessary on a prolonged cruise - from what I hear.
Just thinking out loud but I wonder if this was actually a carefully orchestrated test - of sort?
 
LT Food has apparently not quite gotten the kinks out of the system, yet.

Sure is taking him long enough... :rolleyes:
 
Zaphod said:
LT Food has apparently not quite gotten the kinks out of the system, yet.

Sure is taking him long enough...
Click to expand...

I think LT Food is a Lcdr Foodess and if you read the article, apparently the consenus of the interviewed mids was the following:

The mids who discussed the matter yesterday said that grousing about the food reflected a broader dissatisfaction at the tighter regs, generally.
Click to expand...

Apparently, a mountain was made of a molehill.

I would further challenge anyone who states "Then, they started putting out three times what they needed." Sounds like one who is prone to exaggeration. I think on an $8 and change per mid daily budget that this would be impossible.
 
USNA69 said:
I think LT Food is a Lcdr Foodess
Click to expand...

We always used the title LT Food, no matter who it was.

Apparently, a mountain was made of a molehill.
Click to expand...

Could be...

I would further challenge anyone who states "Then, they started putting out three times what they needed." Sounds like one who is prone to exaggeration. I think on an $8 and change per mid daily budget that this would be impossible.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but I remember LOTS of food being taken out of the hall after meals, and the Food Service people ALSO leaving with lots of food, so the claim is not outside the realm of possibility.
 
Zaphod said:
Perhaps, but I remember LOTS of food being taken out of the hall after meals, and the Food Service people ALSO leaving with lots of food, so the claim is not outside the realm of possibility.
Click to expand...

"Okay, grilled chicken breasts for dinner. Let's see, ration is one per mid. We're on a very tight budget. We have 4000 mids so let's cook up 12,000 just to be on the safe side."

I don't quite hear what you are saying.

When meals were not manditory, the budget was not critical, and portion control was not an issue. Now, both are.
 
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