{"id":503955,"date":"2026-10-22T08:04:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503955\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T08:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:04:19","slug":"chow-time-marine-corps-recruit-depot-in-san-diego-opens-militarys-largest-mess-hall-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503955\/","title":{"rendered":"Chow time! Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego opens military\u2019s largest mess hall \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re given only 20 minutes to eat a meal, during which time chit-chat is usually forbidden.<\/p>\n

But grabbing chow got a bit better Wednesday at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, which opened a bright, sprawling mess hall that is now the largest in the U.S. Department of Defense.<\/p>\n

It covers more than 100,000 square feet, making it roughly one-third larger than Building 569, the bland, cramped quarters that MCRD used for decades.<\/p>\n

The new building can serve up to 20,000 meals per day, largely with the use of walk-in ovens, 80-gallon kettles and big food processing conveyors like one that cooked 2,200 pieces of catfish for the lunch crowd on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"OnThe facility can serve up to 20,000 daily meals. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The demand is heaviest during the summer months when MCRD must prepare upward of 6,200 meals for individual feeding periods. Training surges during that time of year because large numbers of young people join the Marines upon graduating from high school.<\/p>\n

The facility is primarily meant to benefit MCRD, which mostly trains recruits from west of the Mississippi River. But it\u2019s also designed to handle overflow from MCRD Parris Island in South Carolina, if problems arise at that base.<\/p>\n

\"OnThe new chow hall is vastly bigger than the previous one. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The new building is also meant to help care for people displaced by disasters such as wildfires \u2014 something that is already done at Camp Pendleton.<\/p>\n

The demand and need for food is high.<\/p>\n

The Marines say recruits burn 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day, largely because they are frequently on the run and carrying heavy equipment. It\u2019s common for recruits to cover more than 12 miles a day.<\/p>\n

\"OnRecruits receive instructions for the day from their drill instructors before having lunch. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for a recruit to lose 10 to 30 pounds during the grueling 13-week basic training period.<\/p>\n

The three meals that recruits get each day contain about 3,700 total calories, which is intentionally lower than the amount that they burn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s OK because you want them to come out lean-looking,\u201d said Todd Young, the food services director.<\/p>\n

\"OnRecruits have little time to eat, and no chit-chatting. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

He added that, in the past, the basic menu involved \u201cone entree, one starch, one vegetable,\u201d which has since been replaced by more varied and much healthier food options, including oatmeal cups, beef and broccoli bowls, and assorted nuts and seeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still getting everything they need to fuel their body,\u201d Young said. \u201cThey eat every morsel of chow that is offered to them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re given only 20 minutes to eat a meal, during which time chit-chat is usually forbidden. But grabbing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,181,23,1703,100,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-503955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-military","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}