Eating well in Iraq -- an article I just wrote for my friend Yoko's food blog http://umamimart.blogspot.com/

When I went to Iraq as an investigative reporter last month, I sort of surprised myself by discovering that the first thing that I investigated was the food. U.S. soldiers weren't re-enlisting at a fast enough rate at the beginning of this gruesome "war" and when they took a survey of solders who didn't want to re-up, the military discovered that it was because of the lousy food. So now that is all changed. Even the MREs -- Meals ready to eat -- are practically gourmet. They come in 22 different varieties, including beef enchiladas, jambalaya, chicken tetrazzini, pot roast, vegetarian mushroom omelets, roast beef with gravy and BBQ pork.

And while I was in Iraq, I just couldn't keep away from the DFAC -- the dining facility. It was like the buffet table on a cruise ship. I swear! Plus they also had a pizza bar, a pasta bar, a potato bar, a salad bar and, most important of all, a dessert bar to die for.

I'm going back to Iraq in June -- ostensibly to continue my "I Love Lucy" kind of journalistic reporting on the bloodbath that used to be Baghdad. But secretly, just between you and me, I suspect that I'm really going back for the food!