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CHEF'S TABLE: Army cook grandma provided helping of common sense

Without his English grandmother, tinned beef, sautéed chicken livers, stewed fruit, Byrd’s custard powder, or a decadent English trifle might not have made the menu

Nov. 11 is a time when we as a community and country take time and reflect on the service of those who have answered the call of our country, work to protect our way of life and for those that made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.

For me as a chef, I have always been interested in the stories and history around my fellow brethren in the military and food during times of war.

Our family has a personal connection to one of these stories. You see, my grandparents met at a base in England during the Second World War. My grandfather, Bill, the dashing young mechanic with a Canadian regiment, met my grandmother, Ruth, an English miss working as a cook with the British Army. 

That chance encounter led my grandmother to become one of the many war brides who made the leap to leave their families in England and come across the Atlantic for a new life with their Canadian husbands.

As a cook, my grandmother was obviously influenced by her time as a military cook and by having to go through food rationing, shortages and the struggles of living with the threat of a bombing attack.

I remember the effortless way she could put together a large meal for the family and her ability to utilize almost every ingredient with efficiency to make the most out what was available.

Even though she was an excellent cook and a loving grandma, I’m not totally convinced that sliced 'bullied beef and mash' makes for a great dinner, but it sure felt like 1940s England on those nights!

Without her, I would have never learned to really appreciate tinned beef, sautéed chicken livers, stewed fruit, Byrd’s custard powder, or a decadent English trifle.

It’s hard for us to even begin to fathom the ordeal that our grandparents and great-parents went through during the First and Second World Wars. Looking back with the eyes of a cook, with the quantity and quality of ingredients available, the challenge of feeding thousands of soldiers in the field was truly a monumental task.

All jokes about the quality and calibre of military food aside, the work that goes into keeping an army on the move is an amazing one. Food and morale go hand in hand. Ask any soldier and they will tell you. Field rations only go so far. A warm cooked meal is a comfort and one of the few pleasures one can enjoy in the field.

Our military does an excellent job in training its cooks and culinary teams. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing it first-hand. When I started teaching in the culinary department at Georgian College, the school had a program where cook trainees were blended into our regular culinary classes.

For me, this meant as a brand-new teacher I had half my students in uniform and ready to learn. I got lucky since they were a fantastic bunch to work with.

A few years later, when CFB Borden was undergoing renovations in the Culinary Training Building, we hosted the training team and the recruits at our campus for a full summer semester. It was amazing to see the military-style training first-hand. Every detail and class delivered that precision and professionalism. It was amazing that, even though the basic principles of culinary and cooking are the same, the military style just brought out the best in what kitchens can be.

The exceptional culinary skill and military hospitality of our forces was very evident when I had the chance to reconnect with a few of the instructional team I had met from CFB Borden. I was in Edmonton for a Chefs Association Conference and the team from CFB Edmonton was hosting a private dinner on base for us.

We were given the unique opportunity to see just how our fellow chefs run a full dinner service for 150 people out of a field kitchen. Also included was a tour of the kitchen and facility where up to 5,000 service members were fed daily. The event concluded with a live entertainment show, an ample bowl of 'Moose Milk', and lots of laughs.

The thing that really stood out for me that night was the pride in the work, commitment to service and camaradarie in the food they shared and the stories they told.

Here at home, there is a place for our service veterans, their families and friends to get together and share in that same camaradarie and the pleasure of shared hospitality I felt at CFB Edmonton  the Royal Canadian Legion.

Formed after the First World War to provide a strong voice for the returning veterans, the legion today is an organization that works hard advocating to support and defend the rights of our veterans.

There are legion branches across the country, coast to coast, that provide spaces for these men and women to come together and share. Many branches provide a venue for a variety of community gatherings, functions and fundraisers supporting many other groups. They serve as an integral part of many small communities across our country.

This year, more than ever, I’d ask you to take a moment and think about those brave men and women who answered a call and who make the sacrifice to serve. Support the Legion Poppy Drive and on Nov. 11 take a moment to remember.

For more information on the legion and its work, click here

Daniel Clements is the chef technologist at Georgian College’s School of Hospitality and Tourism.


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Daniel Clements

About the Author: Daniel Clements

In his bi-weekly Chef's Table column, Daniel will be looking at everything from local crops and trends in the business to seasonal delights and the local restaurant scene
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