Many moons ago, one of my main occupations in he US Army was in food service. Not particulaly something I'd like to return to, but hey, we've all got to start somewhere in life right?
Often we would get tons of complaints about the food testing very bland. The main reason for that its that the meals we prepared were all institutionalized (the same foods they serve in public school, jails, prisons, ect..ect). The biggest problem I saw, was that in order for the food service industry to keep the cost of each meal down, they would omit as many ingredients as possible, then the few ingredients that they would use..were all generic.
Have you ever tried making a cake with cornbread mix instead of cake batter, or making cake icing with lard instead of butter? The answer to everything seemed to be with sugar. " If it tastes like shit, pour sugar into it". That seemed to be the military's standing battlecry.
Those days are long behind me now. I tried cooking in the house once, and my wife threatened to have me arrested if I ever tried cooking for her again.
I guess everyone can't stomach army food
Anyways, the one thing it really did for me, was gave me the motivation to return to school and push for something that better suited me. That's what drove me through DeVry Instrtute of Technology and helped me get to where I am today.
I still tend to tinker around in the kitchen every now and then, I just do it when no one else is home
