Thread by @Mylovanov

What do people eat in the Ukrainian military?

I visited a brigade last week to learn about officers’ training. But I can’t talk about that

I was most fascinated by cooking. Imagine you have to feed 1000 people 3 times every day in the woods w/o electricity and fridges 1/

So, what do people eat? When I visited the brigade I sat down with the commanders for lunch.

There was a sausage soup, cooked chicken and potatoes, and marinated veggies - carrots, seaweed, and onion. They were surprising tasty. There was also a typical Ukrainian drink - kompot

The food was good. It tasted as your typical campfire food. Partly, because it was prepared on a fire stove. The meat and potatoes were fresh, not canned, so I was puzzled how they store the ingredients 3/

The officers shared the benches with privates, there was a single line for all ranks, and people waited patiently. True, the brigade commander asked to skip the line because we were on a tight schedule, but battalion and platoon commanders or anyone else didn’t 4/

The vibe was also not what I would have expected either from movies, documentaries, interviews, reports or TikToks.

It was a mixture of three impressions. First, there was a sense of a corporation - everyone was busy, but not stressed, everyone had a purpose. 5/

Some people were coming back from training missions, others were finishing some other tasks. You units passing by, returning, and shortly thereafter they would appear in the line 6/

They ate quickly, but not too quickly. There was a sense of the next mission or purpose after lunch.

The second impression I got was about an interesting mix of formal and informal attitudes. It was not your typical military hierarchy. They were friends. 6/

The rank was almost invisible. And yet the order, respect, discipline was there. But it was focused on the right things only, no unnecessary formalities, no stupid rules. Again, there was a clear sense of purpose and focus on the results. This sense was palpable. 7/

The third impression was of the morale. There was no burnout, toxicity, sadness, frustration. There was no excessive optimism either. People knew what they were doing, they knew why there were there, they knew what awaits them. They talked about losses with respect. 8/

They talked about shortcomings and ways to improve. The climate was very healthy. 9/

The more I thought about how it is achieved, the more I was puzzled and impressed.

The commander told me that the bottle neck for their ability to station people together is in fact food. If they could feed more people at once, they would be able to station more people here 10/

We were at one of the bases. So, I started thinking … how do you choose a menu? How do you order ingredients? How do you keep them safe? How do you cook and serve quickly.

Let’s say that you want to serve omelet for breakfast. This means you have to prepare 2-3K eggs at once

This require industrial type of equipment. It would be possible in a stationary base, but not in a make Shfr camp in the woods.

People told me some principles. There are set menus and the kitchen rotates through them 12/

All ingredients are prepared outside of the base and stored in advance. Veggies are cut, meat seasoned, etc. Then they are delivered to the base and almost immediately cocked and served. It is actually a very precise and efficient process. Every detail is attended to 13/

The officers told me that top agricultural and restaurant businesses consulted them, helped set up the processes, and trained people.

I was impressed, wouldn’t you? 14/

So here is us having lunch. I am happy I visited and got to see how the food is prepared. This visit inspired me. I saw how systemic are the business processes that sustain the brigade. Of course, they need more weapons and resources. But everything else is top! 15X