Armed Forces Recipe Service facts for kids
The Armed Forces Recipe Service is a special collection of recipes. It's like a giant cookbook for military chefs! These recipes are designed to make large amounts of food, enough to feed many people at once. The United States Department of Defense's Natick Laboratories creates and updates these recipes regularly.
This service is used by cooks in the military, as well as in big kitchens that prepare food for many people, like those for schools or large events.
What is the Armed Forces Recipe Service?
The Armed Forces Recipe Service started in 1969. It brought together cooking guides from the four main branches of the military. This idea actually goes back even further, to 1896, when the US Army first tried to make cooking instructions standard.
How are the Recipes Made?
Most of the recipes are based on American cooking. But they also include special recipes for different dietary needs. For example, there are recipes for vegetarian, kosher, and halal meals. This helps make sure everyone can be served.
Each recipe card has a standard look. Every recipe is made to feed 100 people! It also includes basic nutrition information at the top. While these recipes used to be mostly in print, the entire database is now available online. The Joint Culinary Center of Excellence, which is part of the US Army Quartermaster School in Fort Lee, Virginia, shares this database.
