Behind the scenes of the Royal NZ Police College cafeteria

It's not just an army that marches on it's stomach if the Royal Police College kitchen is anything to go by.

For would-be cops at the Porirua campus, it's a hungry job, and it's up to the kitchen staff to serve then breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But when you go behind the scenes, there's not a pie to be seen, with healthy fare the order of the day.

MAARTEN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ Police recruit Bradley Parkes loves the food he gets served up.

Recruits at the college spend 16 weeks living on campus, and there are up to seven intakes of between 40 and 80 recruits a year

READ MORE:

* Top cop looking forward to new roles

* Olympian joins police force

* Former All Black now a cop

* CuriousCity: Remembering the old chain gang

* CuriousCity: Fatbergs, stenchy sewers and thousands of litres of poo

* CuriousCity: What happens when a building is strengthened?

* CuriousCity: What really happens inside the halls of Parliament?

* CuriousCity: Wellington's wind turbines spin power to the city

* CuriousCity: Where Wellington stores its water

And they need to be fed.

Three times a day, up to 450 staff, cops and recruits form a thin blue line and file into the mess hall to fuel up for their crime fighting, studying and physical training.

On Thursday the force fed on open sandwiches with a choice of pulled pork and vietnamese beef, and asian noodle soup. A salad bar offered three cold meats, four salad choices and fresh fruit.

The healthy fare is a far cry from the pies, hot dogs and chips that used to be dished up when kitchen manager Angela Wong first worked at the college.

"When I started here 27 years ago the recruit's palate was limited to meat and veges for both lunch and dinner and they always had pudding.

"There's been a dramatic change in our food because our recruits are a lot more ethnically diverse and the food has to reflect that."

Now all food was halal certified and the most popular items were butter chicken and pulled pork, she said.

"The beef rendang is the least popular because it's too spicy for some and too bland for others."

The day starts at 6am for the kitchen staff who work in three shifts and a "monster machine" does the dishes so the recruits don't have to.

"They still have to bring their plates up when they've finished though."

With 40 loaves of bread and 200 litres of milk used daily, planning is key when it comes to ordering food, Wong said.

"The whole operation is organised because it's so huge but it's a well oiled machine ... as long as the lunch lines flows smoothly it goes well."

Police staff and recruits out on the beat don't miss out on their meals.

"If they're out on road policing or at stations we make picnic lunches and snack packs for them to take."

Sandra McGill started cooking for the college three years ago and said she's perfected her welcome speech to new recruits.

"I tell them we're famous for our food so you have to be careful, some people come and put on 20 kilos."

Even in the short time she's worked at the college the food has become healthier with pudding even falling in popularity, she said.

"We used to have dessert every night but now its fruit every second night and we don't have "Wedges Wednesday" anymore."

Detective Inspector Craig Scott said the food was much healthier now than when he was a recruit in the 1980's.

"I think I put on 8kgs in five months when I trained here," Scott said.

"It's a lot healthier now, I used to dread Fridays, it was a smorgasbord with fish bites, chips and cut up sausages. Now I always like the pork, the pulled pork."

Ask away

Have we piqued your CuriousCity? Have you ever wondered how something in the Wellington region works? Email your question to news@dompost.co.nz with 'CuriousCity' in the subject line.