The new Grab n’ Go food station at Naval Air Station Sigonella, located on the Italian island of Sicily, provides a range of hot and cold entrees. Offerings include breakfast burritos, sandwiches, chicken fingers, salads, and more, catering specifically to junior sailors who may miss regular dining hours at the galley due to their work schedules. This food station is part of a broader Navy initiative aimed at enhancing the quality of life for sailors. (U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — Navy junior sailors working in Sicily no longer will have to miss meals because of their work schedules thanks to a food service innovation designed to keep them fueled throughout the day.
A Grab n’ Go food station opened this week at Naval Air Station Sigonella, offering hot and cold meals for sailors whose work commitments may not allow them to eat during regular galley hours, the base said in a statement.
The program targets junior sailors, specifically those ranked petty officer 3 and below who are receiving free Navy meals, known as rations-in-kind, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 LaToya Farrish, food service officer for NAS Sigonella’s galley.
Rations-in-kind are offered to service members in lieu of basic subsistence allowance and are designed to make it so that they receive meals without the need to pay for them, according to the Navy.
The idea behind the food station at Sigonella is to offer flexible, expanded dining options to provide service members with the nutrition needed to accomplish the daily mission, Farrish said.
A junior sailor at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, selects fresh-cut fruit to take away as part of a new food service program that began this week. The “Grab n’ Go” food station at the base’s dining facility offers a variety of hot and cold entrees and other food items for junior sailors who may not be able to eat during regular dining hours at the galley. (U.S. Navy)
“We’re just trying to ensure that they are getting a well-balanced meal and not just a granola bar or a bottle of water,” she said.
To that end, the station offers a variety of items, such as breakfast burritos and sandwiches, chicken fingers, burgers, salads, fresh sliced fruit as well as other sides and entrees designed for convenient consumption, Farrish said.
Condiments, salad dressings, utensils, hot food containers and to-go boxes and bags for carrying meals also are available.
The Navy is working to improve quality of life for sailors in a variety of areas, including housing, food service, recreation, grocery shopping, child care and schools for children.
For example, most Navy bases now offer free high-speed internet in barracks, and sailors who previously were assigned to live on their ships now have the option to live off ship when not at sea.
More recently, Navy Installations Command began piloting food service improvement programs at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state and Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport in Mississippi that offer more diverse food and greater flexibility in how sailors use their meal entitlements.
For example, sailors at Kitsap will be able to use their meal entitlements not only at galleys but also at some on-base restaurants starting on Wednesday, while sailors in Gulfport are experiencing “rotating ethnic food stations” at the galley and an updated, more modern interior, the Navy said in a May 27 statement.
Farrish said the Grab n’ Go was inspired by a Navy Region Europe Africa Central challenge for galleys to improve the dining experience for junior sailors.
Junior sailors who depend on free Navy meals can now take advantage of a new Grab n’ Go food station at Naval Support Activity Sigonella, located on the Italian island of Sicily. This station offers a variety of hot and cold entrees, as well as other items, for those who miss the galley's regular dining hour’. It is the first of its kind in the Navy Region Europe, Africa, and Central area of operations. (U.S. Navy)
The food station at NAS Sigonella is the first of its kind in EURAFCENT and is in the base’s galley, known as Ristorante Bella Etna, on the installation’s operational site. It is open from 8:30 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
Officials are working to move the food station to a location that is more convenient for sailors than going into a galley area, but no timeline has been set.
Although sailors using the food station won’t get the “full-blown experience that they would have if they dined in, (they will get) something … to take back to their workstation and still meet the requirements to have a good meal,” Farrish said.
