The mess is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the officers' mess, the chief petty officer mess, and the enlisted mess. In some civilian societies this military usage has been extended to the eating arrangements of other disciplined services such as fire fighting and police forces.
Stand easy in the stoker's mess of the corvette HMCS Kamsack, 1943
A sailor aboard the destroyer USS RADFORD (DD 968) enjoys a sandwich at a picnic lunch prepared for the crew during naval exercise Unitas XXI circa 1980. Near his foot a can of Nehi Berks County Root Beer is visible.
Fort Bragg NCO Club in 1954
A mess of pottage is something immediately attractive but of little value taken foolishly and carelessly in exchange for something more distant and perhaps less tangible but immensely more valuable. The phrase alludes to Esau's sale of his birthright for a meal ("mess") of lentil stew ("pottage") in Genesis 25:29–34 and connotes shortsightedness and misplaced priorities.
Esau Sells His Birthright for Pottage of Lentils, a 1728 engraving by Gerard Hoet.
Esau and the Mess of Pottage, by Jan Victors.
