BREMERTON, Wash. - At nearly 1,100 feet long and weighing more than 100,000 tons, the USS Stennis defines the word "big." While the ship may be nuclear powered, the crew is food-powered. Yes, every Navy runs on its stomach.
But if you want five-star dining, you'll want to be on the Stennis these days, because for the third time they have won the prestigious Edward F. Ney Award. The award encourages and recognizes culinary excellence in Navy food service programs.
While carrier fare is standardized in the Navy, it's what individual Culinary Specialists do with it that separates the winners from the losers. So does cleanliness and food handling.
While life in the kitchens and dining rooms under the hangar deck may lack the fancy schmanzy decor of a cruise ship, everybody loves the Philly steak; the turkey curry, not so much.
"It looks like yellow and stuff. It looks weird," said sailor Zach Watkins.
Sailor Jake Burnside's first ship is the Stennis, and he was pretty skeptical about Navy dining.
"I've heard a lot of crappy things about military food," he said. But asked if he thought that way about chow on the Stennis he said "No way." He's pretty happy.
When you're at sea for six months at a crack, lame food doesn't boost morale, which is why the Navy puts such an emphasis on having its messes compete to be the best.
Knocking out 18,000 meals a day for 5,000 people (it's a fourth meal served late at night that accounts for the extra 3,000 meals) would normally define "institutional cooking." The kitchen does special birthday meals, monthly ethnic dinners, Sunday brunches and Taco Tuesdays.
"I've got full confidence in my people, and I see it day in and day out every day,"said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Nestor Frando, the ship's Food Service Officer.
It takes more than 100 people to whip up the good stuff day and night. Like New York City, the kitchen never closes. Technically speaking, it's open 22 hours a day.
The Capt. Edward F. Ney Memorial Award was established in 1958 by the secretary of the Navy and International Food Service Executives Association to improve and recognize the quality of food service in the Navy.
