How Navy cooks are trained to feed 5,000 sailors on aircraft carriers
The Navy trains 3,900 new culinary specialists every year at the Navy Culinary Specialist "A" School at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. Students learn the importance of sanitation and nutrition, techniques of cookery, small-quantity baking, and culinary math. Their training culminates during Galley Week, when the students spend a week preparing meals in a kitchen environment similar to what they'll find on Navy vessels. Once they graduate, new culinary specialists will spend three to five years preparing meals at sea, deploying for up to nine months at a time.