mmm good...

'Of course, I want to hear about FOOD. What do you eat? Where do you eat it? Do you ever eat “in town” or at a café? Or are you restricted in certain places. Do they eat lamb or goat? ... Tell me about your favorites.'

Welp... As a whole, unfortunaetly the US military forces do not eat a lot of Iraqi food. Just about everything you eat, aside from any goodies sent from home, comes from the chow hall. The chow hall serves three hot meals a day, working in weekly rotations of what's served. All things considered, the selection of parmesan hamburger, ham mac n' cheese, baked chicken etc. etc. is actually not bad. Unfortunaetly, out here it's hard to have any perspective at all, and the same things every week tires me. Occasionally, we will make it to one of the larger FOB's and be able to enjoy their fine dining experiences, but on the daily basis frozen cordon bleu works. Not to mention, it is common place to be on mission through lunch time, making those goodies sent from home (poguey bait) even more key.

Now, being part of such a culturally focused team, as well as part of special operations, us and the PSYOP guys are of course inclined to pickup some local food whenever we get the chance. When planning our dismounted patrols, we take into account where the good food is in relation to our route. But, of course, the tankers would freak out if they knew they were standing around in an unsecured area so that Tiff and I could get some lunch, so we are forced to play it off. 'We're evaluating local businesses'. 'We're developing relations with shop owners'. Such phrases become common place when hunger sets in.

Usually, our local dining experiences consist of chicken or falafel. The chicken is roasted rotisserie style on the street, and in many places is quite delicious. It usually comes with a bag of samuun, a delicious bread that is similar to rice in that it accompanies most everything. The falafel is similar to a falafel you will have at home, and is every bit as delicious. Occasionally we will grab a kabob or two, which is lamb combined with cucumbers and tomatoes wrapped in samuun.

Hate to cut this short but duty calls. Will write again soon.