Poor conditions in Italy
 

Having been out a few years now I'm not going to comment on this other than to reflect that my 4 months in Aviano back in 1995 were some of the most enjoyable times of my 22 years service for many reasons including the great food. I'm sure current ops must be very different to life in Pordenone back then.
This is Scunthorpe | Troops served decayed food during military action


Would anyone who has been there care to update or comment on this?

DREADFUL! How can the poor lambs possibly survive without a computer!!!! Things sound really bad out there....

How about that eh? The food available locally in Italy is mainly pasta.

:ugh:

He'll be complaining that the local's dont speak english next... :ugh:

I suspect that they were in a conscripts mess. I have eaten in a few, including Norway and France. In the long term I would have starved to death because they were gopping :yuk:

Actually having "served" some 6 months @ that particular locale during the Bosnian upset I can concur that your diet "on the whole" can be quite limited, in our case the field kitchens (sorry chef forgot the proper title) for our 1 full meal per shift at the airfield was a welcome relief.
Despite taking a month or so to gain the acquired "taste" for the local Adriatic sea foods [starting at half raw and work backwards] there's only so many ways you can eat/look at cephalopods/molluscs before the novelty wears off.
After some months we found a kind of restaurant, up on the Puglian escarpment, that actually had PORK CHOPS on the menu. :ok:
Unfortunately some idiot blabbed about it and next down period we arrived back there only to find the majority of RAF GdeC's minibus fleet parked up outside, and a sudden lack of the usual feral dogs for some reason :E ho hum ..

The availability of pizza, pasta, and peperoni was the reason why many on the E3D detatchment at Aviano had to buy BMWs to carry their per diem in.

In 1993, unrelated to the Bosnia ops, I had to survive on a mere £150 per day with hotac paid separately as actuals.

By heck it were rough in them days.

PS,

I were only there a week and the per diem had to pay Mrs PN's air ticket (one day's per diem) and the salads and wine while I were 'working'.

glad rag - that was GdeC down south you're referring to..
Up in Friuli where we were, we ate like kings. Read somewhere once that there were ~70 restaurants in Pordenone. And when the thrill of those wore off, there was the surrounding countryside to ravage oops, explore.
For example, the restaurant overlooking Aviano halfway up the mountain at Mezzomonte; Ristorante Zaia at Polcenigo.. and Il Refugio..

@ sidevalve
 

All I can offer is thank heavens for USAF San Vito...Oh hang on.....:(

If conditions are that bad then I guess they'll just have to go out, get drunk and drown their sorrows
if they time it right they'll get caught by the carabinieri and sent home....

You're not wrong. Went to Lake Como at the weekend with the missus and it pissed down.

Kipper Mates
 

I'm just amazed that this thread's been going this long without a mate from the Kipper fleet extolling the virtues of the Sig Inn. That must have taken a lot of willpower from some people.

814man:

FWIW, cuisine between North and South Italy varies considerably, and in Italy I noted that one mostly got the regional dish preferences. Maybe things have changed since I was there over a decade ago. But I doubt it, habits there, culinary wise, don't seem to change swiftly.

Two points, all mollusks considered ...

More meat, more shots at beef, and more butter up north.

More olive oil, more seafood down south, less beef, but better Veg.

Pasta is of course ubiquitous.

But it all beats MRE's. :8

Personal Perspective
 

As a Brit who served with the ITAF for a number of years, my experience is somewhat at odds with the original post. The Italians care about their food, sometimes at the expense of other priorities. I've dined at many conscript /sotto ufficiale messes around the country and have always been served a plentiful and healthy meal. True, if you don't like pasta then you'll be one course down on the next man. But even without the 'primo piatto' (pasta dish) the rest of the ensemble (meat dish with a veg side-dish, bread & fruit) is as good (but different) to Brit military grub.
If you're eating out, then the country has some fantastic cuisine to offer in both the North and South. The real difference is that quality is across the board. Even the most modest (and cheap) restaurants serve good quality food.
I can see how an airman thrown into this situation may find the cultural dislocation a little tricky at first, but a few months without curry or fish 'n chips will make them taste all the better on return.

THEFODFATHER

"REF Kipper mates"

As I understand things there are a fair few NCA (Kipper and otherwise) who are facing redundancy supporting the effort in the Op area.

Perhaps I misunderstood the slant of your post.

If not

"metterla dove il sole non splende"

Ciao, from one who is not in a fancy fast jet hotel

Misunderstood
 

INT ZKJ

I think you must have misunderstood the slant of my post. I was merely referring to my experience that on every visit I ever made to Kinloss, I never saw an evening pass without hearing at least one conversation that started with the phrase "When I was in the Sig Inn". Although I do have to own up to being slightly jealous that my time at Sigonella as a techie was spent living in the prison compund at Motta, although the amount of rates we got did slightly make up for it.

There was no intention to upset or otherwise cause offence, merely a bit of hopefully harmless banter.

THEFODFATHER

Sorry for going off on one! Just a bit T & E from being out here on Dave's North African, SDSR justification, political adventure!

I only stayed in Mota the once, with the rest of my det's there down town and you are so right when you say about the allowances making up for a lot of things.

Cheers

ZKJ

INT ZKJ

No worries, have a safe det. Thankfully, 2 months into life in civvy street mean such adventures are behind me now. Sig was my first taste of life on det, sadly in the modern air force such fun is seldom found anymore.

Ancona
 

I was the Detachment Commander at Ancona during the Bosnian conflict, We all lived in a glorious hotel next the the Adriatic and had simply a wonderful time! Food? It was great. The only downside was that I put on 5 kilos :ok:

SV, You forgot the Hotel Spia in Montereale! Happy memories of the Sunday Lunchtime Cruise in the mountains to find a new place to eat - including one that couldn't give us a menu because it depended upon what they had managed to shoot that day.

Sadly, these trips became less and less as:

a. Allowances were cut and cut as we went to pizzaria rates from restaurant rates.

b. vehicle milage restrictions were added and added.

It was all so different from my first experience in Italy (Sicily) where we were restricted to base (no transport) and had to eat in the messes. Pasta for lunch followed by the same pasta dish but cold for dinner. I can imagine which system is being used for the serviceman in the article.