Chow hall means: Military slang for the mess hall - the cafeteria where service members eat their meals on base. Chow hall carries the no-frills, institutional energy of military life: you grab a tray, get your. It is military jargon and mostly appears in service contexts, war fiction, or among veterans and their families. It comes from prison or criminal-justice contexts; worth knowing what media your teen is consuming. This is a food-related word and harmless in itself. It is an education-system term, so usage is institutional and routine.