FSS shakes things up with Soul Food Sunday

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Harrison Withrow
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. --  With a spread of ribs, fried chicken, collard greens and macaroni and cheese, the Grissom dining facility brought in a large crowd for Soul Food Sunday.

Soul Food Sunday was first proposed two years ago by Tech. Sgt. Tiffany Cleckley-Cooley, 434th Force Support Squadron food services operations supervisor, who got the idea from her previous unit.

“When I was in active duty, we did a lot of themed meals, and soul food was probably the most popular one,” said Cleckley-Cooley. “So far it’s been a big hit at Grissom.”

On a typical day, the Grissom dining facility will feed roughly 400 Airmen, she said. During Soul Food Sunday, that number jumps to over 600.

“We get a much bigger turnout if people know we’re doing something special for the day,” said Cleckley-Cooley. “It takes a lot of food to feed that many, so we try to get an early start on it.”

Preparations included but were not limited to 90 pounds of ribs, 90 pounds of chicken, 100 pounds of rice and 150 pounds of macaroni and cheese.

“We make a lot of comfort food like barbecue ribs and fried chicken, but we also had healthier options like cajun baked fish,” she said.

More themed menus may be on the horizon, said Cleckley-Cooley.

“We’re planning an Italian food menu, and there’s others we’d like to try like Hispanic or Oriental themes.”

For next year, Soul Food Sunday might come twice, she said.

“This is our second time doing it in October but we might not have to wait until October to bring it back,” said Cleckley-Cooley. “We’re going to look at what we can realistically do in the coming months because we want people to look forward to eating here every month.”

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. The Citizen Airmen from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.

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