Meaning
What does Meal Team Six mean?
Meal team six (or gravy seals) is a series of images featuring obese, unfit and round-bodied men, who bear arms and wear military outfit.
The name supposedly refers to U.S. Navy’s primary special operations force, called SEAL.
Origin
What's the origin of Meal Team Six?
The exact origin of the meme is unknown. However, Google search data suggests that the term was getting looked up frequently from the year 2014.
The earliest traceable meal team six meme was posted on a platform called militaryimages.net in June 2015.
Spread & Usage
How did Meal Team Six spread?
Although it did not refer to the actual meme, the phrase itself was featured in an episode of
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central in 2017.
In 2019, a variation of meal team six was submitted to r/funny. After that, the format started to spread in various Reddit communities.
In the same year a picture was posted on Pinterest by marlene.stephens that compiled several obese soldiers. The picture also had a caption saying Meal Team Six Delta Fork Brigade.