The Estonian defense forces are about to switch to a new system of catering in October that will make the intervals between meals for conscripts shorter and the food offered healthier and more diverse.
Estonian defense forces to introduce snack times between meals
13th August 2013, 18:10
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«Compared with the present arrangement where members of the defense forces are provided three meals a day, in the fall two snack times will be added that will make the menu more diverse, modern and healthy,» Karin Repp, acting head of the catering unit at the logistics center of the defense forces, told BNS on Tuesday.
A survey conducted among personnel last year and in spring 2013 shows that according to conscripts lunch in the armed forces involves too big an amount of food and supper is not sufficient given the timing of meals.
Of the conscripts interviewed 32 percent mentioned that they sometimes finish a meal not satiated enough and also feel that the timing of supper is not right. «Under the present arrangement there's an interval of up to six hours between lunch and supper for members of the defense forces. Rules of healthy nutrition say that one should eat every four hours. The total calorage received in the course of the day will not become smaller under the new menu, remaining between 3,500 and 3,800 kilocalories,» Repp said.
The new system will be introduced in the whole force from Oct. 1 after successful trials in the Headquarters and Signals Battalion and the Kuperjanov Infantry Battalion from February to May this year. In a survey taken as part of the trial 82 percent of personnel said that with the new menu the feeling of satiatedness was more even throughout the day. The menus to be introduced from October are currently being worked out.
The logistics center of the defense forces has a new person working in the position of chef from the beginning of August. Being responsible for the switch to the new system, the defense forces' new chef Kaie Karu must also train the 250 or so catering employees of the defense forces in subjects such as modern spices, modern methods of work and kitchen equipment, fresh food and other similar topics.
Karu has spent the last 15 years of her career working at the listed shipper Tallink, including seven years as chef of Tallink City Hotel.