COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- When it comes to food options the Air Force as a whole is updating their dining options to accommodate the need for healthy lifestyles which led to Columbus Air Force Base being one of the test bases to train and push out the new dishes to the base populace.
Moving forward in today’s food industry means keeping up with the vast need for healthier food options, and to do this Columbus AFB has transformed the menu at the Club to keep up with the Air Force’s healthy food initiative.
Chef Jeffery Yager, Air Force Services Center food and business operations specialist at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland , Texas, along with Nicola Lucas, AFSC program manager, visited Columbus AFB on Nov. 4 to train cooks at the Club on the new recipes for items that will be available to Team Blaze.
To help meet a wide-range of meal preferences, the Club is providing more options like vegetarian and vegan meals with fresh vegetables as well as more dishes with white meat in them.
“The nutrition you put into your body is the first to accomplish putting pilots at the top of their game along with the exercise programs” Yager said. “When pilots are flying it creates more stress especially when they get into combat so their bodies need to be in top notch shape to handle those situations.”
After the cooks were trained for the new menu, the Club presented their innovative food options to hungry customers looking to try something different.
Second Lt. Michelle Strickland, 37th Flying Training Squadron student pilot, is an active vegan athlete who has very limited options for food in the surrounding Columbus area and said she has to cook for herself most of the time.
Strickland was invited to the Club to try the new food options available and brought some other student pilots to try out the vegan food to show the difference in food quality.
When asked if she would recommend the new Club menu to people she agreed and encourages others to come out and try the food.
“Even if you see a product that you’ve never tried before, try it and see how healthier food makes you feel,” Strickland said. “Instead of going somewhere far, come to the Club, its healthy, local, cheap and you get to try something you haven’t before.”
In an effort to improve the quality of life for Airmen around the base as well as all members of Team Blaze the Columbus Club has answered the call for healthier living.