JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Today celebrity Chef Robert Irvine, best known for being featured on the popular cable channel, Food Network, made a visit to crew members at Jacksonville’s Naval Station Mayport.
Chef Irvine was there to observe the food and the sailors’ menus.
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“Food is not only hope but also resiliency, 1 in 4 of our active-duty men and women that you see sitting here are food insufficient and food insecure,” Irvine said.
English celebrity Chef Irvine enrolled in the Royal British Navy at the age of 15. That’s where he began his cooking career and it’s where his love for the military began.
On Thursday Chef Irvine combined the two. He has a goal of improving the meals for crews at Jacksonville’s Naval Station Mayport’s award winning oasis gallery. It’s their cafeteria.
Naval Station Mayport tells me on average they are used to preparing almost 1,000 meals a day for their crews. That’s why having a celebrity chef here like Irvine is key. He’s used to preparing hundreds of meals on a daily basis for his guests.
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Guests at a number of his restaurants both in the U.S. and the U.K.
Jacob Weaver, a galley cook at NAS Mayport, took Irvine’s visit as a learning experience.
“Today was an opportunity for us to have a menu review board and it gives sailors the opportunity to bring about items they want to see on our menu,” Weaver said.
Weaver says today’s meet and greet will also focus on healthier meal options and plant-based alternatives.
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“The better we can make the food, the better we can make the pay, the housing, the more people are going to join the military,” says Robert Irvine.
“I am a big fan of fresh vegetables and fresh fruits, it really fuels us, and we need that,” Weaver said.
Other than his cooking skills, Chef Irvine is best known for being a talk show host who has appeared on a variety of Food Network programs. Dinner: Impossible and Worst Cooks in America are some of his most notarized TV specials.
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