Chinese culture emphasizes that "food is the first priority for the people." For the military, whether they can eat well and well has become the key to maintaining the combat effectiveness and morale of the troops. Aircraft carriers often have to sail in unfamiliar waters for several months. Therefore, "what to eat" has become an important question. So, how do you eat on an aircraft carrier?
(Source: Beijing Evening News)
The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier uses 72,000 eggs every month
The average U.S. aircraft carrier eats tens of thousands of dollars a day?
No matter which country has an aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier concentrates the elite power of a country's navy, so their dietary needs can always be met as much as possible. For example, in the dining room of the US military's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, all kinds of food are available; the rationing standard on the French "Charles de Gaulle" is far higher than that of ordinary warships. For three meals a day, the crew can enjoy steaks, fish fillets, vegetable salads and desserts; The main dishes on the Indian aircraft carrier are chicken, duck, fish, shrimp and mutton, with a variety of vegetables. Living at sea, the food supply of an aircraft carrier can be said to be extremely rich, far exceeding that of ordinary ships and second only to top luxury cruise ships
Behind the wide variety, we must consider the huge supply of personnel on the aircraft carrier . The aircraft carrier has as few as one or two thousand people and as many as five or six thousand people. Preparing three or more meals a day for so many people consumes an astronomical amount of ingredients.
Take the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as an example. A ship has an average of 5,000 crew members and about 70 to 90 chefs. It must prepare 16,000 to 18,000 meals every day, and the meal service time is from 6 a.m. Until 12 midnight, 1.3 tons of fried chicken, 1.3 tons of fish, 3.6 tons of bacon, 3.6 tons of steaks, 3.5 tons of potatoes, 4 tons of lettuce, 5.4 tons of rice, 11 tons of hamburgers, and 20 tons of hot dogs are consumed every month , 72,000 eggs, 4,500 liters of soda, 6,800 liters of milk and 15,000 liters of orange juice.
According to information released by the US military, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier consumes an average of US$45,000 to US$65,000 worth of food every day, and needs to replenish US$1.8 million in food every week. Calculated in this way, an aircraft carrier will need to replenish food in three months. During the deployment cycle, the food consumption alone reached 21 million US dollars, which is approximately 130 million yuan! Therefore, we see on the Internet the feasts on the US aircraft carrier and the "barbecue party" on the deck. These are actually all based on extremely huge material consumption, and they place extremely high demands on maritime logistics support capabilities. On the one hand, On the one hand, the means of transporting materials must be able to supply supplies at overseas ports, and it is best to have overseas military bases.
The menu cycle is shortened and the nutrition is more balanced
Although it seems that the variety of food is very rich, due to the limitations of sea supply and food storage means, the aircraft carrier actually has a cyclical menu to meet the needs of officers and soldiers. For example, the US military aircraft carrier used to implement a 21-day cycle. After 2007, it was changed to a 14-day cycle cycle. Recently, it began to experiment with a 7-day cycle cycle. However, the French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" has always implemented a 14-day cycle cycle. .
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier meals
Judging from the combat characteristics of the Navy, the shortened menu cycle means that the chance of officers and soldiers eating unhealthy fast food such as hamburgers and hot dogs is greatly reduced. Although judging from the photos online, the diet of the US military aircraft carrier is extremely rich. However, considering the combat and patrol pressure of US aircraft carriers, many officers and soldiers are still forced to eat high-calorie, high-fat foods such as hamburgers and hot dogs to meet the caloric requirements of high-load work. Moreover, this type of food is easy to store and puts less pressure on supplies. From this point of view, the food on the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" is likely to be better than that of the US military. This is not only because the French have better cooking skills, but also because the mission scope of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is much smaller than that of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which puts less pressure on logistics.
"Food Party" on the deck of the US aircraft carrier
Now that the US military has reduced the menu cycle, the officers and soldiers on the ship naturally welcome it. The new recipes are more nutritionally balanced and more beneficial to the health of the officers and soldiers on board the ship. In particular, the main dishes increase the proportion of grilled chicken, grilled fish, vegetables and salads, and reduce the proportion of fast food. Technically speaking, the method adopted by the US military is to start using a large amount of semi-finished and finished food. That is, the portions and seasonings of the main dishes are pre-matched according to the nutritional mix. When the ship's chef arrives, he only needs to heat each staple food. On the one hand, this reduces the pressure on supplies and also reduces the work pressure on the ship's chefs. Although the taste is definitely not as good as the craftsmanship in restaurants, it is a big improvement over fast food.
On China's "Liaoning Ship", chefs rely on multi-functional steam ovens, vegetable cutters, steamed bun machines, large steam pots and other cooking equipment to operate in 5 meal processing areas, 3 staple food processing areas, 1 Two bakeries are processed at the same time to ensure the supply of meals. In addition, the dining time is also extended, and a combination of six meals a day, mainly buffet, and meal delivery is adopted.
Chinese aircraft carrier meals:
It is advisable to take the road of finished products and combining Chinese and Western methods
China has its first aircraft carrier. In fact, it also has questions about how the Chinese navy can protect large-scale Meals on surface ships present new challenges.
From a cooking point of view, Western food is relatively simple to make and highly nutritious, but the equipment is more complex. Although Chinese food tastes good and the equipment is relatively simple, the production process is complicated, and the demand for cooking water is large and the amount of sewage is large.
For naval kitchens, ships with one or two hundred people can still follow traditional methods; but for aircraft carriers with thousands of people, the traditional preparation method of Chinese food puts unprecedented pressure on the cooking soldiers. It is hard for us to imagine how much precious fresh water it would take to wash the vegetables and how much manpower it would take to cut and stir-fry them if we made an ordinary dish of fish-flavored shredded pork for all the officers and soldiers on the ship. Now let’s look at the food on the US military aircraft carrier. The standard behind big fish and big meat is: high calorie supply and simple processing. Except for senior officers, the food taste of ordinary officers and soldiers is not much better, and it is not suitable for the specific conditions of China.
Therefore, the food on China’s aircraft carriers must take the path of finished products and a combination of Chinese and Western food. On the one hand, on a large platform such as an aircraft carrier, it is difficult to meet the physical consumption of officers and soldiers during combat training based on Chinese food habits, and it also puts great pressure on food production. It is necessary to introduce some Western food types (such as fried chicken, Western pastry, juice, etc.) ; In addition, in order to ensure the taste of Chinese officers and soldiers, the supply of finished dishes must be further increased. For example, the People's Liberation Army Daily revealed that our military's submarine force is already using finished collective food. This kind of food, which is inspired by airline meals and packaged in tin foil bags, only needs to be heated, and the meat and vegetable stir-fries will be "out of the pot".
From what Chinese and foreign aircraft carrier officers and soldiers eat, we can see that the aircraft carrier is not only a weapons platform, but also a huge system project. In addition to high-tech equipment, seemingly ordinary factors such as eating will also become the key to affecting the overall combat effectiveness, thus requiring overall planning. It is more difficult to turn Chinese food into finished products than Western food, but with the continuous improvement of China's food technology and logistics support capabilities, Chinese aircraft carrier officers and soldiers will definitely be able to eat world-class meals.
Recently, the China Navy website published several photos of the officers and soldiers of the Chinese ship carrier "Liaoning" dining and the cooks cooking, which made readers have a strong interest in the "eating" issue of such a large ship. interest.
American Aircraft Carrier
Fried chicken legs, ham, steaks, seasonal fruits and vegetables, salads, desserts, ice cream, and various drinks are all available. The kitchen will also regularly "improve life" for officers and soldiers by providing "chef's recommended dishes" such as lobster, crab, and premium steak. When the weather is calm, officers and soldiers will "invite the carrier-based aircraft aside" and hold an open-air barbecue party on the deck.
French aircraft carrier
For three meals a day, officers and soldiers can enjoy three kinds of appetizers, a steak or fish fillet, two kinds of vegetable salads and three kinds of desserts after meals. The main crew rest area outside the restaurant also has vending machines where you can buy drinks such as beer, juice, and mineral water.
Indian Aircraft Carrier
Although the food is not as rich as the United States or as exquisite as France, it is equally delicious. Mainly chicken, duck, fish, shrimp and mutton, with tomatoes, onions, potatoes, eggplant, cauliflower and other vegetables. Of course, curry is the main dish. Another common food is Indian pancake, which is loved by officers and soldiers because of its simple preparation and sweet taste.