Katie Breazeale, 42 Bistro dietitian, Compass Group USA, Inc., greets Ania Thurmand, cashier, 42 Bistro, Compass Group USA, Inc., Feb. 12 while Thurmand places bananas out for patrons at 42 Bistro at Fort Hood.
Photo by Janecze Wright, Fort Hood Public Affairs
Balance is an essential component that shapes training and mission preparation for Soldiers. Similarly, a dietitian uses this trait to guide every decision and recommendation about what goes on the plate to fuel warfighters.
At 42 Bistro — the Army’s first campus-style dining venue — that shared priority is front and center, showing how performance begins with proper nutrition long before the mission starts, and it is a role that Katie Breazeale, 42 Bistro dietitian, Compass Group USA, Inc., takes on with enthusiasm.
The salad bar at 42 Bistro is a popular go-to and ensuring produce looks as good as it tastes is priority said Katie Breazeale, 42 Bistro dietitian, Compass Group USA, Inc.
Photo by Janecze Wright, Fort Hood Public Affairs
“I have a really fun role,” she said.
Breazeale provides nutrition guidance for the menu, recipe compliance and checks the nutritional value of everything offered. She also ensures food items are stocked and provides education for the staff.
Though she is new to the role, having started in January, Breazeale relishes the unique responsibility of ensuring the fighting force is fed using current Army Holistic Health and Fitness guidelines, with a side of creativity and ingenuity to curate nutrition Soldiers need in the meals they want.
“It is a challenge,” she said. “In a lot of our signage and our things, we’re not like ‘This is healthy, you should eat this.’ We’re like ‘This is what we have, here’s the offerings.’ But we know on the back end this menu is 75% green. So, we’re just like, ‘Pick what you want,’ because we know we’ve set it up very nicely.”
“You eat with your eyes first, so we want it visually appealing.” Breazeale continued. “But we still have standard things. If they want to get regular rice, it’s there. If they want regular French fries, it’s there, or they can get sweet potato tater tots. So, we’re doing both so that people can find what they want. Again, we’re 75% green. That means 25% is something else. That’s just part of the balance of eating.”
A diverse fighting force needs equally diverse meal options Breazeale conveyed, and with seven food stations, a food truck and prepacked meals and snacks, the options at 42 Bistro are endless.
“We have Forged, which is our grill,” she said. “We have Piccola, which is the pizza parlor area. We have Provisions, which is the deli, Noble Fork, which is kind of like homestyle cooking. And then there are our micro concepts, which is really fun. That’s where we do different themed meals, like we have taco day and things like that. We have Shake Smart with smoothies, which has been a hit. And then we have Tradecraft on the other side, where the Outpost used to be.
“We want to try to give a little bit of everything,” she continued. “We don’t want it to be just this blanket menu. We want that diversity, because (Soldiers) come from everywhere, and so that is the goal.
“We’ve given them options. We’ve given them also where they can come any point of the day and still get food, whereas the dining facilities shut down,” she continued. “The hours aren’t ideal, so we’re trying to make it accessible to them. They’re a Soldier 24/7, so, of course, they need to be able to eat quality meals at any time.”
Breazeale has plans to expand her role, getting Soldiers and the military community more involved with creating engaging ways to build excitement about nutrition.
“I’m going to be doing a lot more outreach, and there are going to be classes,” she said. “I’m looking at ways to get the Soldiers integrated into the program. We’re going to do tasting features, and we’re doing a teaching kitchen. We’re going to be doing all kinds of different fun things.”
Balancing the nutritional needs of today’s warfighters with the food they want to eat is a huge task, but one that Breazeale embraces and wants to see flourish.
“We’ve gotten great feedback and our hope is that we get to keep going on the base. Because one (42 Bistro) is not enough for all these Soldiers, our hope is that this goes amazing and Fort Hood is like ‘Yes, let’s add more of these because everybody wants to be here.’”
42 Bistro is located at Bldg. 34002, Old Ironsides Avenue and Pyongyang Drive, on Fort Hood. The grand opening ceremony was held Wednesday.
