FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – The installation food service team prepares a bounty to feed Soldiers a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the dining facilities here Nov. 26.
Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, the meal this year is only open to active duty service members. Those in Advanced Individual Training, including MOS-Ts and MOS-Ts with their families (if they are authorized to be here on their orders) will eat at Weinstein Dining Facility and permanent party service members and their immediate family members may eat at the Thunderbird Dining Facility. The food will be plated by staff only. There will be no self-serve options.
“This is the time of year the food service team here really gets to shine,” said Manuel Grajeda, food service quality assurance coordinator at Logistics Readiness Center. “All eyes are on the dining facility at Thanksgiving.”
Planning, inventory and preparing the Thanksgiving meal starts roughly three to four months in advance, Grajeda said.
“We will start prepping on Tuesday morning,” said Sylvia Lopez-Holt, assistant project manager at Weinstein and Thunderbird dining facilities. “By the evening we will all be cooking a portion of the meal.”
Each person in the kitchen is immersed in a part of the meal-prep process.
Multiple trays of bread are pulled from ovens permeating the air with an aroma comfortable as home. Large vats of red onions, potatoes, and celery are wheeled into the kitchen to be sliced, diced, julienned and chopped.
As Lopez-Holt speaks she packs red grapes in containers and wraps them to store.
“Thursday, of course, is the day,” said Lopez-Holt. “Every course of the meal will be sliced, plated and ready to serve.”
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 964 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/
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