Field kitchen - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Field kitchen is a mobile kitchen, mobile canteens

Food truck

A food truck, mobile kitchen, mobile canteen, or catering truck is a mobile venue that sells food. Some, including ice cream trucks, sell mostly frozen or prepackaged food; others are more like restaurants-on-wheels...

or food truck

Food truck

used primarily by military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

services to provide warm food to the troops near the frontline or in temporary encampments.

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The first field kitchens were carried by military units on campaign throughout history in four-wheeled wagons. Indeed, this method of feeding a large travelling group of people was often used, such as on the Wagon Trail in late 19th Century America where the Chuckwagon

Chuckwagon

A chuckwagon or chuck wagon is a type of wagon historically used to carry food and cooking equipment on the prairies of the United States and Canada. Such wagons would form part of a wagon train of settlers or feed traveling workers such as cowboys or loggers.In modern times, chuckwagons feature...

was employed. By the 20th Century, smaller two-wheeled trailers

Trailer (vehicle)

A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials....

, became common, especially with the invention of locomotive travel. Field Kitchens were often given affectionate nicknames, during WWI the Germans came to refer to their field kitchens as Gulaschkanone (Goulash Cannons) because the chimney of the stove resembled ordnance pieces when disassembled and limbered for towing. As technology has advanced larger trailers have evolved as horses were phased out in favour of motorized vehicles more capable of towing heavier loads. In WWII the mobile canteens

Food truck

was used as a morale booster in the United Kingdom, fitting in with the culture of the tea break and in particular as a result of the successful wartime experiment of the tea lady

Tea lady

A tea lady is a woman in an office or working environment, whose sole job is to provide beverages and light snacks during the allocated tea break. Tea ladies are a mainly British custom. They entered the mainstream in the UK during the second world war, when tea ladies were used in an experiment...

on productivity and morale. The larger mobile kitchens (now commonly called "flying kitchens" because of the greater speed with which they can be deployed) can service entire battalions of troops.

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See also