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2012-09-13 Grenades & gravy: an ethnographic study of food in the canadian forces
Esau, Matthew
Esau, M. (2012). Grenades & gravy: an ethnographic study of food in the canadian forces (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26324 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/192 master thesis
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Grenades & Gravy: An Ethnographic Study of Food in the Canadian Forces
by
Matthew Esau
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
CALGARY, ALBERTA
SEPTEMBER, 2012
© Matthew Esau 2012 Abstract
The importance of feeding soldiers is frequently evoked using Napoleon’s oft quoted aphorism, “an army marches on its stomach”. While the biological necessity of fueling troops is well documented there remain many questions about the social aspects of military feeding and the individuals who produce it. This study’s aim is to explore the social aspects of soldier cooks and military food at CFB Wainwright using ethnographic methods: observation, participant observation, and interviews. Drawing from the data I collected while living on base, I explore military feeding and the experience of soldier cooks with respect to the formal, front stage and informal, back stage areas. A theoretical focus of the study is the intersection of military food, the physical senses, and troop morale using the concept of ‘sensory models’. The goal of the study was to present and explore military feeding and the soldier cooks’ experience of their position in the CF.
ii Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank my two supervisors, Anne Irwin and
Charles Mather, for providing me with the opportunity to carry out ethnographic research
and supporting my journey through academia. I am grateful to Anne for using her
invaluable expertise to get me into the field and always showing interest in my work. I
am grateful to Charles for arguing with me at every opportunity and aiding me in writing
and editing my thesis. Without these two individuals, my graduate school experience
would not have been nearly as meaningful. I would also like to thank my officemates:
Juli Finlay, Paul Bridger, Sarah Sandham, Ian McNairn, and Heather Dunphy. Without
their support and willingness to engage, my experience would have been far less
enjoyable.
Some of the credit for this thesis belongs to my wife, Kim, who’s undying support
and patience helped me enjoy the pleasurable times and endure the difficult times. A lot
of thanks also goes to my parents and siblings who have encouraged me from the very beginning and helped make me the person I am today. I am also very grateful to all of my participants at CFB Wainwright without whom none of this would be possible. I will
always remember their hospitality and willingness to speak with me.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada for generously funding this project. Their financial support made this
whole process much less painful than it could have been. I would also like to thank the
Department of Anthropology for their generous funding and support.
iii
Dedicated to those who serve.
iv Table of Contents
Abstract …………………………………………………………………...…………...... ii Acknowledgements ………...... iii Dedication ………………………………………………………………...……....….…. iv Table of Contents …………………………………………………….…...………….….. v List of Figures and Illustrations ……………………...…………………...………….…. vi List of Abbreviations ……………………………………………...……...………….… vii Epigraph …………………………………………………………………………....….. viii Chapter 1: Shit on a Shingle, Lung Omelettes, and Meals-Ready-to-Excrete …..…. 1 Chapter 2: Methods ……………………………………………………………………. 9 2.1 Literature Review ………………………………………………………….....…… 9 2.2 IMP Autoethnography ………………………………………………………...… 10 2.3 Operational Rations Cross Culturally …………………………………………… 13 2.4 Ebay Anthropology …………………………………………………………...…. 15 2.5 Access ……………………………………………………………………...……. 16 2.5.1 Activities ……………………………………………………………………. 20 2.5.2 Photographs …………………………………………………………………. 20 2.5.3 Fieldtrip ……………………………………………………………...……… 21 2.6 Site ………………………………………………………………………...…….. 23 2.7 Fieldkit …………………………………………………………………...……… 24 2.8 Data Collection ………………………………………………………………….. 24 2.8.1 Field Notes ………………………………………………………….………. 25 2.8.2 Observation …………………………………………………………………. 27 2.8.3 Interviews …………………………………………………………………… 28 2.8.4 Participant Observation ……………………………………………….…….. 32 2.8.5 Photographs …………………………………………………….…………… 34 2.9 Analysis ……………………………………………………………….…………. 34 2.9.1 Constant Comparative Method …………………………………….……….. 35 2.9.2 Technical Manuals …………………………………………………..……… 36 2.9.3 Goals ……………………………………………………………….……….. 37 2.10 Conclusion …………………………………………………………….……….. 37 Chapter 3: Tireless Warriors ………………………………………………..……….. 39 3.1 Soldier Cooks ……………………………………………………….…………… 39 3.1.1 Recipe Books ……………………………………………………….………. 40 3.1.2 Equipment …………………………………………………………..………. 41 3.1.3 Dress and Adornment ……………………………………………...……….. 42 3.1.4 Military Food ……………………………………………………………….. 44 3.1.5 Sanitation and Hygiene ……………………………………………...……… 45 3.1.6 Static vs Dynamic Feeding ……………………………………………...….. 46 3.2 Military Food: Static Feeding ……………………………………………...……. 47 3.2.1 Mess Feeding …………………………………………………………..…… 47 3.2.2 CFB Wainwright Messes ……………………………………………..…….. 48 3.2.3 Cycle Menu …………………………………………………………………. 51 3.2.4 Feeding Commitment ………………………………………………….……. 53 3.2.5 Mess Dress ………………………………………………………….………. 53
v 3.2.6 Social Organization …………………………………………………………. 54 3.3 Military Food: Dynamic Feeding ………………………………………….…….. 59 3.3.1 Box Lunch …………………………………………………………….…….. 59 3.3.2 Hayboxes ……………………………………………………………………. 60 3.3.3 Field Kitchens ………………………………………………………...…….. 61 3.3.4 Field Kitchen Social Organization ………………………………………….. 62 3.3.5 Mobile Kitchen Trailers …………………………………………………….. 64 3.3.6 Operational Rations …………………………………………………...……. 66 3.3.7 Types of Operational Rations ………………………………………………. 67 3.4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………...…….. 69 Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Pan and into the Firefight …………………….…….. 71 4.1 The Soldier Cook Experience …………………………………………………… 71 4.1.1 Soldiers First …………………………………………………………….….. 71 4.1.2 Complaints and Praise ………………………………………………….…… 73 4.1.3 Negotiating the Liminal Phase of Mealtimes …………………………….…. 77 4.1.4 ‘Going Home’ versus ‘Finishing Work’ ……………………………………. 79 4.1.5 Improvisation ……………………………………………………………….. 80 4.1.6 Jokes, Pranks, and Ridicule ………………………………………………… 84 4.1.7 Coping with Boredom ………………………………………………………. 88 4.1.8 Spheres of Exchange ………………………………………………….…….. 91 4.2 Food, Morale, and the Senses …………………………………………………… 96 4.2.1 Morale ………………………………………………………………………. 96 4.2.2 Anthropology of the Senses ………………………..…………………….…. 97 4.2.3 The Senses and Military Food …………………………...…………...…… 100 4.2.4 Military Food and Morale …………………………………….…………… 101 4.3 Conclusion ………………………………………………………..……………. 110 Chapter 5: Conclusion ………………………………………………….…………… 111 References ……………………………………………………………….……………. 117 Appendix A: Search Data ……………………………………………….……………. 127 Appendix B: Preliminary Interview Questions …………………………….…………. 128 Appendix C: Interview Data ……………………………………………….…………. 129 Appendix D: Diagrams …………………………………………………….…………. 131 Appendix E: Images ………………………………………………………..…………. 137 Appendix F: Condiments ………………………………………………………..……. 144 Appendix G: List of Ranks ……………………………………………………..…….. 146 Appendix H: Glossary …………………………………………………………...……. 147
vi List of Figures and Illustrations
Figure 1 ……………………………………………………………………..………… 131 Figure 2 ……………………………………………………………………….………. 132 Figure 3 ……………………………………………………………………….………. 133 Figure 4 ………………………………………………………………………..……… 134 Figure 5 ………………………………………………………………….……………. 135 Figure 6 ……………………………………………………………………...………... 136 Illustration 1 …………………………………………………………………….…….. 137 Illustration 2 …………………………………………………………………..………. 138 Illustration 3 …………………………………………………………………….…….. 139 Illustration 4 …………………………………………………………………..………. 140 Illustration 5 ……………………………………………………………………..……. 141 Illustration 6 ……………………………………………………………………….….. 142 Illustration 7 ……………………………………………………………………...…… 143
vii List of Abbreviations
CF: Canadian Forces
CFB: Canadian Forces Base
CFREB: Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board
CMK: Combined Mess Kitchen
DND: Department of National Defence
GD: General Duty
IDF: Israel Defense Force
IMP: Individual Meal Pack
KO: Kitchen Officer
LMC: Light Meal Combat
MKT: Mobile Kitchen Trailer
MWO: Master Warrant Officer
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCM: Non Commissioned Member
NCO: Non Commissioned Officer
PT: Physical Training
SSRRB: Social Sciences Research Review Board
WO: Warrant Officer
WOM: Wainwright Officers’ Mess
WSM: Warrants’ and Sergeants’ Mess
viii Epigraph
A Chant of Army Cooks
We never were made to be seen on parade When sweethearts and such line the streets; When the band starts to blare, look for us we ain't there We're mussing around with the eats. It's fun to step out to the echoing shout Of a crowd that forgets how you're fed, While we're soiling our duds hacking eyes out of spuds You know what Napoleon said.
When the mess sergeant's gay, you can bet hell's to pay For the boys who are standing in line; When the boys get a square, then the sergeant is there With your death warrant ready to sign. If you're long on the grub, then you're damned for a dub, If you're short, you're a miser instead, But, however you feel, you must get the next meal You know what Napoleon said.
You think it's a cinch when you come to the clinch For the man who is grinding the meat; In the heat of the fight, why the cook's out of sight With plenty of room to retreat But a plump of a shell in a kitchen is hell When the roof scatters over your head, And you crawl on your knees to pick up the K. P.'s You know what Napoleon said.
If the war ever ends, we'll go back to our friends In the army we've nary a one; We'll list to the prattle of this or that battle, And then, when the story is done, We'll say, when they ask, "Now what was your task, And what is the glory you shed?" "You see how they thrive well, we kept 'em alive! You know what Napoleon said."
ANONYMOUS The Stars And Stripes, A.E.F., France
W. D. Eaton, ed. Great Poems of the World War . Chicago: T.S. Denison & Company, 1922.
ix Chapter 1: Shit on a Shingle, Lung Omelettes, and Meals-Ready-to-Excrete
Arriving for the first time at CFB Wainwright was a little surreal. I had never really spent any time on a military base and I had little to no idea what to expect. My mind was racing. As I drove up the road, the chain link fence that comprised the boundaries of my field site crept into view and it really hit me what I was about to start.
After going through several figurative gatekeepers in the form of review boards I was half expecting a physical gatekeeper with rifle at the ready demanding my credentials.
Although slightly anti climactic, I continued past the abandoned check station and immediately noticed a large plywood map of the base to my right. I pulled over to find out where I would be spending the next couple of months working and as I stepped up to the map an older gentleman in military attire called over to me.
As I approached the grey haired soldier, he asked me which building I was looking for. I told him that I was looking for the Combined Mess Kitchen (CMK) and he gave me some rough directions. I thanked him, we parted ways, and I got back in my rental car. As I was driving through the base, attempting to remember the directions I just received, I began to get nervous. I had no idea what to expect and being on base, with all the trappings of a military environment including groups of soldiers marching in formation, just exacerbated the feeling. I eventually found the large, beige building and parked across the road. I sat for a few seconds, composing myself, before phoning my primary contact. I dialled as my heart rate sped up a bit and I was met with voicemail. I began to worry since I knew nobody else I could call. I waited a few minutes and called again. Voicemail. This time I left a message and sat in the hot sun, hoping I did not
1 somehow miss him. A short while later my phone rang and it was him. He explained that cellular phone service was spotty at times and to simply come meet him at the Combined
Mess Kitchen, across from which I was parked.
As I approached the daunting structure I noticed several individuals sitting outside smoking cigarettes. I told them who I was there to meet and they pointed me towards a green door saying to just go straight through and out the other side. I walked through a large warehouse and could see through a window three men in military attire standing on the other side. I approached, somewhat timidly, and introduced myself. After some brief introductions, my contact took me to see my room and gave me a crash course on how to behave while on base. We shook hands and he left me alone to unpack. I stood there for a
few minutes, in silence, contemplating what lied ahead in the coming weeks.
My entry into the field was not without difficulties. Long delays left my
accommodations on base in doubt and I began to worry about the impression it would
leave on my primary contact and gatekeeper. I had done a lot of preparation but it would
mean nothing if I irreparably damaged his opinion of me before I had even arrived. The
delays were somewhat serendipitous because I had originally intended to finish my period of fieldwork by 1 September 2010 but many things occurred after this time. It is impossible to say exactly what effect this situation had on my research but I would certainly have missed some extremely interesting events and valuable insights.
After gaining a cursory understanding of what the group was about I began to probe further into the life of soldier cooks as they conceived of it. While my project began as an attempt to understand one piece of military culture it lead me to a fuller understanding of the military as a whole. Through an analysis of food I was able to obtain
2 insight into the more general social fabric of the Canadian Forces (CF). Prior to my experiences at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright I had limited social contact with active soldiers. My younger brother had just completed his basic training as I was preparing my application to graduate school. Despite this modest beginning, living on a military base for most of the summer led me to become more involved in military culture than I ever could have hoped for.
Living on base was like living in a small town located directly beside another small town with a bunch of small towns scattered around it. The towns nearby boast such attractions as the worlds largest Ukranian Easter egg (Vegreville) and a giant sausage statue (Mundare). It was challenging being so far removed from the amenities that
Calgary affords since I never spent much time in a rural setting. That being said, I feel as though it really added to my understanding of the soldierly life since had I been in
Edmonton or other bases located in urban locales it would have been far too easy to escape the confines of my fieldsite. I truly felt isolated from my comfort zone and found myself in an intensive fieldwork experience.
That is not to say that I did not try to immerse myself into the subject of military food prior to my arrival in the kitchens of a military base. I made many attempts to thrust myself into contact with the cuisine of the Canadian armed forces ranging from ordering operational rations off of Ebay to making multiple trips to the Military Museums of
Calgary. In addition to these directed activities I also unintentionally began learning about the experiences of a variety of people who after hearing about my thesis topic immediately began regaling me with tales from relatives, friends, and even various legends and stories they heard over the course of their lives. From Napoleon’s role in the
3 invention of canning to the practice of putting salt peter in soldiers’ food to prevent nagging urges. I was constantly surprised by the interest I encountered about this highly touted but seldom explored area of study.
Food is important to soldiers. Authors frequently state its importance yet works
devoted to the subject are rare and, as far as I can tell, there is no ethnographic account
which examines the social aspects of military food and their effect on troop morale. The biological necessity of fueling troops is well documented but there remain many
questions regarding the social interactions surrounding meals, how food and eating fit
into the social life of soldiers, the characteristics of a distinctive ‘military cuisine’, and
how food and eating affect the morale of army units. I attempt here to address this gap by
examining social aspects of food in the CF.
What do I mean when I use the term ‘military food’? For the purposes of this text,
military food refers to food that military personnel prepare for consumption by military personnel. Just because a soldier eats some food does not make it military food. One of
the striking attributes of military food is the challenge of feeding a large and diverse
group of Canadians on a daily basis with limited resources. If an army marches on its
stomach then military cooks are indeed important individuals. The Technical Manual for
the Army Cook describes how great an impact food service personnel can have (US War
Department 1941:2):
The competent cook, who tickles with new delights the palates of those whom he blesses with his culinary skill, will win and hold their confidence and esteem. In so doing he can demonstrate that savory dishes are truly economical, all manner of inexpensive yet wholesome foodstuffs being turned into lordly viands by the magic of his hands, and the left overs of former meals being transformed into tasty and marvelous dishes.
4 The essential role of cooks in military operations makes them an integral part of the CF and a valuable group of individuals with whom to do research.
Anthropologists have studied the social importance of food for many years.
Researchers have examined the symbolic aspects of food (e.g. Levi Strauss 1983;
Douglas 1975), economic concerns and utility (e.g. Harris 1985; Mintz 1985) and how food influences identity (Appadurai 2008; Heldke 2008), gender roles (Counihan 1998;
Parasecoli 2008) and social issues (Flynn 2008). Anthropological studies of food are also geographically diverse focusing on areas such as Russia (Caldwell 2005), Belize (Wilk
2008), Portugal (Valagao 1997) and Japan (Bestor 2005). Despite this wide array of locations and contexts, anthropologists have yet to study food in the context of the military. There are other sources that deal with food and the military including biomedical studies (e.g. Marriott 1994; McNulty 1997; Committee on Mineral
Requirements for Cognitive and Physical Performance on Military Personnel 2006), general histories (Davis 1971; Weeks 2009; Billings 1993[1887]), and popular accounts
(Dickson 1978; Lewin and Huff 2006). I studied all the information regarding food in the military that I could find to prepare for my trip to the field and writing my thesis.
Anthropology of the military is a relatively new subfield and thus ethnographic studies of the military are scarce. Important works include sociologist Hockey’s study of an operational army unit (1986) which examines the everyday lives of soldiers. More recent examples are Ben Ari’s (1998) ethnographic study of an Israeli Defense Force unit and Hawkins’ (2001) ethnography of the American army in Germany during the Cold
War. All three ethnographies are foundational to the anthropology of the military and provide a model for the study of food in the daily lives of soldiers. Other anthropologists
5 who have conducted ethnographic fieldwork in a military setting are Winslow (1999a;
1999b; 2007) and Irwin (1993; 2002; 2005; 2008; 2012). It is these authors who have provided direction for both my fieldwork and writing.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine military food and how those tasked with feeding the armed forces experience their occupation. Soldier cooks must consistently provide sustenance for huge numbers of soldiers in both domestic and warfare situations as well as managing the effect they have on morale. This set of responsibilities has led to a particular cultural configuration that I will describe in the subsequent chapters. A more theoretic aspect of the analysis is to explore the intersection of military food, the physical senses, and troop morale. Generally speaking, my goal is to produce a text that conveys what life as a soldier cook is like.
In line with Stoller’s suggestion of ‘tasteful ethnography’ (1989), Classen’s
‘sensual ethnography’ (Classen 1997), and Howes’ idea of a ‘sensual turn’ (2003) one goal of the following discussion is to convey the importance of the physical senses and culturally determined sensory models (Classen 1997) to those who prepare food for a living. Professional cooks must know what food characteristics are valued by those consuming their dishes if they wish to prepare desirable meals. Preparing desirable meals has a positive effect on morale and, as I explore in the following text, a cook’s physical senses play a prominent role in this effect.
The following text consists of three main chapters. In the first chapter, I outline my fieldwork from initial literature review to final analysis and discuss the methods I used to gather, organize, and analyze my field data. I discuss two autoethnographic projects, the issues I had with access including ethics review and negotiation in the field,
6 and my techniques for observation, interviewing, and participant observation. Lastly, I consider my methods for organizing and analyzing my field data.
The second chapter presents background information regarding soldier cooks and
military food and explores some of the results of my fieldwork and analysis. I focus on
the formal aspects of the soldier cook role and the primary elements of CF Food
Services . I discuss the nature of military food, the spatial and social organization of food
services in the CF, the role of military cook, dress, and the general day to day activities
that go into feeding the armed forces. The topics are organized into three sections:
Soldier Cooks , which outlines the basic characteristics of the soldier cook, Military Food:
Static Feeding , which describes military feeding in established locations such as military bases, and Military Food: Dynamic Feeding , which illustrates military feeding outside of
established locations including field kitchens and operational rations. These topics provide a general account of the ‘front stage’ (Goffman 1959) experience of Food
Services personnel and some of its basic mechanics.
The third chapter is divided into two main sections. The first section focuses on the experience of professional soldier cooks in the CF. Topics include coping with boredom, complaining and praising, informal exchange systems, emic concepts, negotiation, improvisation, time spent “in the shit”, and jokes, pranks, and ridicule. These topics move beyond a general account of the ‘front stage’ towards the ‘back stage’
(Goffman 1959) areas of life in Food Services. The second section explores the intersection of military food, the physical senses, and morale. I begin by outlining the anthropology of the senses, a nascent subfield that focuses on the physical senses, and current concepts and terminology of morale. I then discuss the role of the cooks’ physical
7 senses in preparing military food and how they influence, both directly and indirectly, troop morale. After the third chapter, I present my conclusions and discuss future directions for research on military feeding and soldier cooks.
My intention with the following text is twofold. First, to provide a source of information for researchers wanting to explore military food and the individuals who produce it. Second, to examine the intersection of military food, troop morale, and the physical senses. I believe these are two understudied areas where further strides can be
made regarding our understandings of armed conflict and incorporating the physical
senses in ethnographic texts which have underemphasized their importance to the study
of culture.
8 Chapter 2: Methods
In this chapter, I discuss the methods I used to gather, organize, and analyze the data, and outline my fieldwork from the initial literature review to the final analysis. This section includes an auto ethnographic project and a cross cultural comparison of operational rations both of which I completed prior to entering the field. An important aspect of these two projects, was acquiring the necessary materials from an internet auction site. In terms of fieldwork, I discuss gaining access, fieldwork techniques, and methods of data collection. Lastly, I discuss organizing and analyzing the reams of data with which I returned from my fieldwork.
2.1 Literature Review
The first step in carrying out this research was to explore the existing work on the subject of military food. Much to my surprise there was not a lot to draw from. I had assumed that there would be a mountain of data on the subject since to me the importance of feeding soldiers was obvious. It turned out that there was no mountain. With the exception of a few historical and popular works focusing mostly on the US military
(Davies 1971; Dickson 1978; Billings 1993[1887]; Stanhope & Nash 1994; Davis 2003;
Hassell, Dillon, & Jean Bart 2006), I was forced to rely on the sum total of anthropological research on food, eating, and nutrition. Simply put, after my literature review I simultaneously had too much and not enough information.
To deal with the disproportionate bodies of literature I read everything I could find that pertained specifically to military food and also conducted a broad overview on
9 the more general topic of the anthropology of food. With respect to the former, I used several search engines to scour the internet for anything with even a passing mention of food in a military context (See Appendix A). I did not limit my search to the Canadian military because although I did my fieldwork at CFB Wainwright I wanted to explore some of the themes and principles that separate military cuisine in general from its civilian counterparts. Following several months of searching I found that most sources mentioning military food or cooking limited their discussion to one or two pages. The literature on the anthropology of food, eating, and nutrition is far greater in volume and so I was able to turn towards a couple of previously published literature reviews on the anthropology of food and eating to acclimate myself to these topics.
After returning from my fieldwork I began to discover more sources pertaining specifically to military food. Several texts (Duffet 2011, 2012; Fisher & Fisher 2011;
Collingham 2012) were published after my return while I was completing my analysis.
Other sources appeared on search engines and in the University of Calgary’s catalogue
(Weeks 2009; Pool & Bock 2010). I acquired and read as many of these works as possible but time was a factor and there came a point where I simply had to stop reading and focus on writing. Despite the recent increase in the number of academic works about military food, there is a lack of contemporary qualitative studies on military food since all of the recent publications are historical in nature and most focus on World War II.
2.2 IMP Autoethnography
I first learned about operational rations as an undergraduate student and early in my project I started wondering what they were like. I figured the only way to find out for
10 sure was to eat them myself. At first I thought finding a source for Individual Meal
Packs (IMPs) would be difficult but it turned out that I could easily obtain them through
the internet auction website, Ebay. Over the course of five months I acquired six boxes
from three different sellers located in southern Ontario and Nova Scotia. The IMPs sat
neatly piled up in my dining room over the winter while I waited for a good time to start
eating them.
Autoethnography involves turning the anthropological gaze towards oneself
(Chang 2008). This genre of ethnography thrusts the researcher simultaneously into the
role of observer and observed. The autoethnographer’s focus becomes his own personal
experience. Ellingson and Ellis (2008:445) distinguish two streams of autoethnography,
evocative and analytical: “Analytic autoethnographers focus on developing theoretical
explanations of broader social phenomena, whereas evocative autoethnographers focus
on narrative presentations that open up conversations and evoke emotional responses”.
My intention for this portion of the project was not to substitute my experiences for my participants’ or produce theoretical explanations but rather to get a visceral sense for one
aspect of their social reality, the operational ration, so I tended towards the evocative
genre (Ellis 1997). I wanted to understand the experience of soldiers surviving on these
foods instead of merely asking them to explain it to me after I arrived on base. Therefore,
I plunged headlong into the boxes of IMPs. Although a prominent feature of
autoethnography is being a member of the study group (e.g. MacIsaac, Mather, & Irwin
2009) I could not become a full member in the sense of joining the CF but I did fully
commit to the feeding habits of soldiers consuming operational rations.
11 I decided to consume operational rations without making any changes to my daily routine because I wanted to see exactly how they would affect me under otherwise normal conditions. Originally my intention was to replicate a soldier’s experience with
IMPs as authentically as possible but it quickly became apparent that it was impossible for me to recreate the conditions under which soldiers normally eat the rations. I decided instead to create my own schedule and regimen for eating the rations, with the goal of documenting the impact on my general sense of well being, and perspective. The objective was to gain some insight into the foodstuffs that soldiers encounter and experience.
On 27 January 2010, I began eating IMPs for all my meals including snacks. For
eighteen days I replaced my regular diet with one consisting entirely of operational
rations. I did not consume any food or beverage (other than water) not contained in the
IMPs. During this period and for several days afterwards I recorded what I ate, my
reaction to it, and how I felt physically and mentally. The experience proved to be a rich
source of data. I collected nearly one hundred pages of typed notes, and recorded, among
other things, how the diet affected my weight, mood, bowel movements (both in terms of
frequency and characteristics), energy levels, and sense of taste. In addition to physical
characteristics I documented my opinions, reactions, and the interactions I had with people while undertaking the project.
Many of my participants were fascinated that I had gone to such lengths to partake in an activity that they considered undesirable. It seemed that they took my
efforts as an indication that I was serious about exploring all aspects of the soldierly
experience including the unpleasant ones. An unexpected benefit of this research was that
12 my experiences provided a common ground of discussion for the interviews I conducted in CFB Wainwright during the fieldwork component of my project. I was able to identify with many of the sentiments my participants had regarding IMPs and knew exactly what they were referring to when they discussed the physical and psychological effects of the operational rations.
An interesting phenomena I encountered while subsisting on CF combat rations was an apparent mystique that they held for people that static feeding did not. My work received more attention during this phase of the project than all other phases combined.
There is something about the heavily packaged, preservative laden foods that civilians find fascinating. When conducting searches for ‘military food’ or similar terms I was often struck at how operational rations were treated synonymously with military food.
One can find numerous videos online of civilians eating various operational rations and recording their reactions. As I will discuss later, operational rations are just one aspect of military feeding.
2.3 Operational Rations Cross-Culturally
While searching for IMPs on Ebay I discovered that people from places other than
Canada were also selling the operational rations of their respective nations. I thought it might be a good idea to obtain samples of these hard rations to compare with the IMPs.
Initially I planned to use them solely for observational purposes but it occurred to me that consuming operational rations from other countries could help me to explore some of my preconceived assumptions about meals from which it was difficult to escape. It is easy to take the format of Canadian meals for granted since the majority of those I have eaten in
13 my life have been of this type. Examples of the implicit nature of meal times quickly became apparent including items considered to be staple foods, appropriate eating utensils, and the separation of meals into breakfast, lunch, occasionally brunch, and dinner, not to mention snacks. Examining IMPs from a more global perspective was a valuable benefit of the cross cultural comparison of operational rations. It is easy to become blinded to the differences between these meals after eating them for fifty four meals straight and thus sampling different versions helped me to look past my familiarity with them.
The major limitation to this method was that I was bound to use convenience
sampling when selecting from which countries I would obtain operational rations. The primary reason is that I could only select from the existing list of auction items meaning that there were some hard rations that were simply unavailable from Ebay. A second reason was the steep shipping costs associated with operational rations from certain areas such as France, Ukraine, and Russia where the cost of shipping the items was more than their purchase price which made the cost prohibitive. Fortunately, there is information available from the internet pertaining to the unattainable operational rations from these areas. This information was also valuable for checking the veracity of sellers’ claims as there are some who sell civilian versions of hard rations as authentic military surplus.
By the time I was ready to begin consuming them I had been able to secure the operational rations from three other countries: USA (twelve meals), South Korea (two meals), and the People’s Republic of China (two meals). Since I was only able to get a small number of non Canadian rations I could only sample them rather than consuming substantial quantities for extensive periods of time. I kept field notes detailing what I ate,
14 my reactions to it, and how each meal compared with one another. I began with jottings and at the end of the day I typed them up and expanded them into more comprehensive field notes. Forty pages of typed notes and a queasy stomach were the results of this portion of my research.
2.4 Ebay Anthropology
Not only was I able to obtain IMPs and several examples of non Canadian operational rations but I discovered a wealth of items on Ebay which were pertinent to my understanding of military food and eating. Examples of these items include such things as an original WWII p 38 tool (a multi purpose can opener made famous by John
Wayne) in its original packaging, a WWII era emergency naval ration, and several pieces of literature unavailable through other means. And these were just the objects I was able to afford on my meagre budget. The abundance of military food based material on Ebay made me realize that there could be many potential data sources available to the highest bidder.
There exist scholarly works that examine Ebay as a research subject (e.g.
Denegri Knott & Zwick 2012) but I have yet to find any literature that discusses Ebay auction items as a source of data. Admittedly, there are strict limitations to the types of assumptions one can draw from this sort of analysis. The provenance of the items purchased through the website can be difficult to determine and there is no certainty that what the seller says about the item is accurate. One technique I used to overcome this weakness was to compare the items I purchased with those in the collection of The
Military Museums in Calgary, Canada. The greatest strength of Ebay anthropology is the
15 access to material culture that the researcher would have previously found difficult or impossible to obtain. Without Ebay I would not have had the first hand experience of consuming operational rations. Another benefit of internet auction sites is that many of these items are available for a price that is even lower than original cost. For example, with a little patience I was able to get IMPs for between eight and twelve dollars per meal whereas the original cost of the ration to the CF is twelve dollars and fifty cents. With a little patience and luck many different types of research could benefit from this method.
2.5 Access
Perhaps the greatest unknown when I began my research project was the location where I would do fieldwork. Although I had always considered CFB Wainwright as an option, there were other locations which seemed suited to my research including CFB
Esquimalt in British Columbia and the Canadian Forces School of Administration and
Logistics in Ontario. One day my supervisor approached me with the idea for all of her graduate students to carry out their fieldwork at CFB Wainwright since it would provide an excellent opportunity to collaborate on an edited volume. I was keen on this idea and decided to make CFB Wainwright my intended field site.
After making the decision to do fieldwork at CFB Wainwright it was time to
actually make it happen. Making it happen is easier said than done however. Hammersley
and Atkinson (2007:61 62) have this to say about gaining access to a fieldsite:
If the data required are to be obtained, negotiation of access is therefore likely to be a recurrent preoccupation for the ethnographer. Negotiation here takes two different but by no means unrelated forms. On the one hand, explicit discussion with those whose activities one wishes to study may take place, much along the lines of that with sponsors and gatekeepers. But the term ‘negotiation’ also refers to the much more wide ranging and subtle process of manoeuvring oneself into a
16 position from which the necessary data can be collected. Patience and diplomacy are often at a premium here, though sometimes boldness is also required.
Manoeuvring myself into CFB Wainwright and specific locations or situations was a big part of my research. Gaining access to CFB Wainwright began when my supervisor contacted the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Land Forces Western Area Training
Centre to receive agreement in principle for the two other students and I to do research on the base. A short time later the CO forwarded me a letter which confirmed his support for our respective projects. However, after several unforeseen occurrences, including one colleague switching degree streams, another changing her topic, and the announcement of my supervisor’s retirement, this plan quickly eroded. Despite the change of plans, I decided that CFB Wainwright was still the ideal location for my fieldwork and I began considering the form my research would take.
Meanwhile, I was working on my ethics proposal for the Conjoint Faculties
Research Ethics Board (CFREB) at the University of Calgary. I submitted the completed forms to the Review Board in the spring of 2010. A few weeks later I received an email from the CFREB requesting further information regarding several aspects of my research project and a few minor revisions to my informed consent procedures regarding photographs. I quickly made the requested changes, resubmitted the revised forms, and a few weeks later I received CFREB approval to move forward with my project. After receiving agreement in principle from the CO of CFB Wainwright and approval from the
University’s ethics board I began the process of applying to the CF Social Sciences
Research Review Board (SSRRB), for permission to conduct research with military personnel. The first step of the review and approval process was to initiate contact with the SSRRB coordinator and request information about the review process including the
17 necessary submission forms. After establishing contact with the Review Board the
SSRRB coordinator identified a Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces
(DND/CF ) Level 1 Sponsor and directed me to submit my completed forms to him for
initial approval of the request. The sponsor reviewed my proposal and made a request to
the CO for written confirmation of his support for the project.
Once the sponsor received written confirmation for my project it was added to the board’s agenda and I submitted my forms for approval in the middle of June 2010. Two
weeks later I received a message from the SSRRB requesting I make several revisions to
my research plan. Most notably, they pointed out that since the mess hall is a place where
soldiers go to relax they might object to having a strange civilian incessantly snapping photographs. I made the necessary alterations and sent the proposal back for review for
what I hoped would be the final time. The entire review process was plagued by delays
resulting from a lack of review board members. The lack of available members made it
difficult for my SSRRB contact to arrange the requisite meetings to discuss my proposal.
I was starting to worry that the frequent postponements to my arrival date would begin to
negatively affect my rapport with my contact or my chances of obtaining lodgings on base. On 26 July 2010, I received final approval for my project from the SSRRB and I
anxiously wrote to my contact at CFB Wainwright to let him know that everything was
finally in order. I arranged my transportation, ran a few last minute errands, and departed
for my field site a few days later on 30 July 2010.
Once I arrived in CFB Wainwright and began collecting data, I frequently had to
negotiate or renegotiate different aspects of my research. Hammersley and Atkinson
(2007:58) write:
18 Negotiating access is a balancing act, then. Gains and losses now and later, as well as ethical and strategic considerations, must be traded off against one another in whatever manner is judged at the time to be most appropriate, given the purposes of the research and the circumstances in which it is to be carried out. Moreover, changes in judgement about what is best may need to be made as the research progresses.
In my case, the renegotiation involved speaking with those in charge to find out which activities I could participate in, who I could speak with, when I could speak with them, and which formal and informal channels I would have to go to gain access. Prior to my arrival, I had discussed with my primary contact the activities I had hoped to do during my time on base but it was not until I had spent some time in the CMK that I began to understand just how much I had to learn. I had to balance my time so that the data I collected would be dense enough for use with my intended analytical techniques. I found out about activities, events, and concepts of interest that I was unable to anticipate based on the limited information with which I had crafted my proposal and therefore for which
I had not budgeted any time. Lastly, I did not expect my research to generate as much interest among my participants as it did. Many more people than I had expected were willing to facilitate my participation in their activities or be interviewed. All of these situations necessitated some type of negotiation or renegotiation with both the various people in charge and my participants. Notwithstanding the need to negotiate and renegotiate my planned contacts and activities, there were many occasions when people approached me and offered to speak with me, or invited me to observe a specific event, or participate in some activity in which they thought I would be interested.
19 2.5.1 Activities
During my fieldwork I enjoyed a significant degree of latitude in terms of where I could go, what I could do, who I could speak with, which activities I could participate in, and so forth. The only stipulation was that I have my name put on the in/out board so that in case of an emergency such as a fire they would be able to quickly determine whether I was inside the building or not. Other than that I would make plans occasionally to accompany various personnel on outings such as a trip to Edmonton to attend a food trade show and take a tour of their supplier’s warehouse. My participants were even kind enough to invite me out to the drinking establishments on base occasionally. Every
Wednesday there was a group meeting of all Food Service personnel which I made sure to attend and occasionally I was invited to other meetings specific to particular staff.
2.5.2 Photographs
The most contentious issue in my ethics application had to do with photographs: where they could be taken, the techniques of informed consent, what could be photographed, how would I use them, how it might affect my participants, and so on.
These issues coupled with the constant delays led me to believe that my best option was to simply agree not to take any photographs. However, after spending a couple weeks conducting research I noticed that there were numerous opportunities to photograph empty spaces, kitchen equipment, food items, my own meals, and many other things which in my opinion would not pose any negative consequences to the participants. After
I was approached by several staff members asking me to photograph various events, people, or locations I decided that I was premature in my decision to do away entirely
20 with taking pictures. After this realization I discussed the matter with the Chief Cook and
sent an email to the SSRRB Coordinator requesting permission to take photographs of
equipment, empty spaces, and food items. I quickly received an affirmative response with
the caveat that everything must be approved by the Chief Cook.
2.5.3 Fieldtrip
The issue of negotiating field activities was minor in most respects as I was granted a great deal of trust and freedom to conduct the research how I saw fit. There was one activity, however, from which I was prohibited during my stint on base: a three day, two night trip to the training area. But perhaps I should start from the beginning. After conducting research in the CMK for a few weeks many of my participants who had experience working in the field began suggesting that the best way for me to understand how a field cook lived was to go and see the training area where they were preparing the troops who were being deployed to Afghanistan and preferably spend a couple nights out with them. A day trip to the training area was already on my agenda, suggested to me by my main contact when I first arrived, but I had thought an extended stay would be too much to ask. Several participants had described the experiences in the field as being unique and quite different from those in the CMK but one participant, MCpl Kovic (for a list of CF ranks see Appendix G), was especially insistent on the issue. After a couple weeks of discussion he offered to talk with his “boss in the field about getting me out there for a few nights”. A few days later I was approached by a sergeant who said he had heard about my interest in the overnight stay and had started the wheels in motion.
21 A few weeks later the sergeant said he had heard back from the MWO in the field and she was supportive of the idea. The sergeant arranged a phone meeting between the
MWO of the field kitchens and myself with the intention of finalizing the details. I spoke with her for about fifteen minutes during which time she suggested I would need two evenings in the field to experience everything. I thanked her and proceeded to inform the chief cook of my plans to sleep out in the field and to get his permission. The Chief Cook was supportive of the idea and I began contemplating my trip to the field within the field.
The next day I was informed by a WO that the days we had planned were problematic and we negotiated a better time for the field trip.
The day before I was to leave for the field kitchens I was quite nervous. I did not know what to expect and the temperature was supposed to drop that night. I had also heard that most of the soldiers at the field kitchens only spoke French (of which mine is quite rusty) and that added to the potential challenges. I was slated to be picked up at six in the morning and so I packed what I would need for three days, set my alarm for five a.m. and drifted off to sleep. The morning came quickly and I was off to the CMK where
I was to meet my transportation. I waited around until six thirty before seeking out the sergeant who had arranged the excursion. He said to wait another half hour and if they did not show up he would call or even drive me out there himself. I went to get breakfast in the dining area and after finishing I returned to see what he wanted to do. Upon seeing me his face dropped a little and he told me he had some bad news. The MWO of the field kitchens had requested permission from her superiors but was denied. I attempted to find out why this might be the case and while I was given several possible explanations nobody was sure of the exact reason.
22 The situation I have described here exemplifies a prominent aspect of conducting research with an institution like the armed forces. The researcher must not merely navigate through one or two gatekeepers but through a series of gatekeepers, who may have to secure permission from their superiors. This type of situation is nothing new to anthropologists since “what is required of the researcher by gatekeepers in order to grant access may not be simply a matter of their judgements and power but may be covered by institutional regulations and even law” (Hammersley & Atkinson 2007:52). Simply put, the best laid research plans are still dependent on those with whom the research is being conducted.
2.6 Site
CFB Wainwright had several prominent characteristics as a field site for anthropological research. The base was a multi site locale which included three messes and two field kitchen sites. My fieldwork also included a trip to a commercial trade show and the warehouse of the food supplier to CFB Wainwright. Seeing the various steps from supply to consumption was crucial to my understanding of the trade network and provided a broader perspective than would otherwise have been possible. During the period I spent on base I was able to conceptually follow the food from warehouse to plate and see, or at least hear about, many of the steps along the way. Originally I had intended on spending an equal amount of time in each of CFB Wainwright’s three messes but after speaking with several participants I realized that my thinking on the matter was flawed.
First, the vast majority of diners consumed their meals in the CMK; somewhere on the order of eighty to ninety five percent of people on the base. Secondly, the officers’ mess
23 was closed for my first month on base due to insufficient numbers of potential diners.
Lastly, the majority of the Food Services personnel worked in the CMK while individual staff members were diverted to the smaller messes when necessary, which meant I could conduct interviews about the smaller messes while remaining in a centralized location.
2.7 Fieldkit
I spent a significant amount of time assembling my fieldkit items. The internet
was a source of helpful suggestions on the subject. Many of the ideas I would have not
considered otherwise such as a counting device I used to keep track of everything from
diner counts to tables and chairs. The device proved much more useful than I had
anticipated. Some tools which I had expected to use frequently turned out to be
unnecessary. For example, I brought a digital voice recorder to document interviews but
my participants were uncomfortable with the idea of being recorded. My primary data
collection equipment consisted of a laptop computer, small notebooks, large notebooks,
various writing implements, and a small point and shoot digital camera. The only items
that I needed to purchase during my fieldwork were notepads which I went through quite
quickly since I was forced to abandon the digital voice recorder.
2.8 Data Collection
I used three primary techniques for data collection: direct observation, interviews,
and participant observation. I planned out much of my research strategy before my arrival
and I needed to continuously negotiate and tailor my plans to fit the situation as I found
24 it. The primary data collection techniques produced a significant quantity of data regarding the soldier’s experience of food in the military.
2.8.1 Field Notes
While preparing for my research I had carefully considered how I would craft, organize, and maintain my field notes. Unforeseen situations caused me to re evaluate my plans and adapt my strategy for taking notes. I had originally intended on taking observational notes using a pen and notepad while digitally recording interviews with the intention of transcribing them upon my return. When I first began mentioning to participants that I had a digital recorder to record their responses several participants indicated that they were uneasy with the idea of being recorded. Due to this uneasiness I abandoned my original plan and instead used a notepad and pen to record the interviews.
This change also forced me to reconsider the way in which I would organize my notes which now included interview data as well.
Another change I made early on during my fieldwork was to combine all the different types of notes I was taking (i.e. methodological, descriptive, analytical, etc) into a single document. I had planned to keep different word processor files for each category of notes but this approach proved far too time consuming. As an alternative, I decided to use different notation for the various categories of information I entered into the fieldnotes (e.g., square brackets for analytical notes, curly brackets for methodological notes). This technique saved me a lot of time since many notes I took fit into multiple categories and I would have needed to copy them into the different documents. Another
25 benefit of the improvised method was that it reduced the time it took to search for concepts which I wanted to pursue further.
After a few days I had developed a system of note taking that was sustainable, organized, and which maximized my time while minimizing the amount of effort it would take to put them into a form conducive to data analysis. Over the course of my fieldwork, with one or two exceptions, I was able to compile all of my jottings at the end of each day and expand them into more detailed field notes. On some days it was easy, I would do interviews and participant observation for four hours and spend five or six hours compiling the field notes. Other days were more challenging such as when I decided to do a double shift which consisted of over thirteen hours of observation, interviews, and participant observation followed by nearly seven hours of typing notes. The former was more typical than the latter but, for the most part, the time I spent observing and writing up fell somewhere in the middle. The fieldwork portion of my research yielded nearly two hundred pages of type written field notes.
Although I mostly recorded the data I was collecting in the form of field notes I also created maps and diagrams of the various social and physical structures in which I conducted research. I would initially draw the maps freehand in a notebook and then at the end of the day I would use them to construct digital versions using Microsoft
Publisher. The purpose of the maps was to aid in reconstructing the places in my mind and to provide visual aides. Whenever possible I also secured maps and diagrams from the CF with which to compare and ensure my own representations were accurate.
Since I stored the bulk of my data in digital form I was concerned about what would happen to my field notes and photographs if my computer were damaged or lost so
26 I kept three different backups of this data in three separate and secure locations as a precaution. I copied the files and saved them on three password protected memory sticks which I kept on my person, in my locker, and in my car while my laptop remained in my room. I stored the files on my computer in encrypted form and set them up in such a way that access to the files required a scan of my fingerprint.
2.8.2 Observation
For the first week in the field I had planned to spend most of my time conducting mute observation to become familiar with the day to day activities on base and to identify themes, ideas, or activities I wished to explore further. This period was intended not only to identify sources of ethnographic data but also to allow the participants to become accustomed to my presence. The first week of my fieldwork did not unfold in the way I had expected however. While I did spend a great deal of time observing daily activities it quickly became apparent that many of my participants were eager to start teaching me about their roles, the CMK, and the Canadian Forces in general. Without any prompting, people frequently made suggestions about potential events, activities, or individuals they felt might be of interest to me. The enthusiasm with which the participants embraced my research made it impossible for me to avoid asking a significant number of questions.
While my plans for observations during the first week did not go as I expected, I did rely on direct observation for a large proportion of my data. Roughly half of the time
I spent in the messes was dedicated to making direct observations. These periods of observation provided me with first hand knowledge of food preparation, transportation,
27 and consumption at CFB Wainwright. The observations also revealed topics which would require interviews or participation to better understand. Without direct observation it would have been vastly more difficult to construct interview questions to maximize participant responses. This maximization was particularly true for activities that I did not know were occurring prior to entering the field such as card games, informal systems of exchange, and social organization. For instance, I was unable to find any information about the roles of Food Service personnel before beginning my fieldwork. Therefore, I was not able to construct questions to illuminate these roles until I began observing which individuals spoke with whom and for what purpose, which individuals had office space, and even assigned parking spots. Once I had a handle on which roles existed I was able to begin asking specific questions that pertained to the social organization of Food Services.
2.8.3 Interviews
As I mention above, I had planned to conduct a week of observations before I began informal interviews yet participant enthusiasm made my plans unrealistic.
Originally I planned to begin with unstructured and informal interviews to determine themes or concepts that are important to the participants. These informal conversations would also serve to make participants accustomed to my presence. However, my participants were eager to begin answering questions. Thus, I quickly re evaluated and altered my plan to carefully move from observation to interviews to participant observation in response to the field situation. As an alternative strategy, I decided to begin interviewing by tailoring the interviews to each specific situation. If the participant was busy with work I would ask short, factual questions and quickly move on. If the
28 participant was on a break or had set aside a time for us to talk I tended to ask longer, more abstract questions or many short, factual questions with the intention of fully understanding a particular concept.
Before I entered the field I created a list of questions to help guide my inquiries
(see Appendix B) although I did not intend to ask all participants all of the questions on my list. Therefore I began by asking questions in a very unstructured and general manner to gain a base level of knowledge upon which I could ask more in depth questions. Over the course of my fieldwork I was able to shift my interview style from less structured to more structured. Due to my participants’ schedules I was unable to conduct fully structured interviews. Since my goal was to document the soldier’s emic perspective of military food I wanted my participants to feel free to discuss the aspects of food that they consider important rather than constraining their responses to a limited range of topics of my choosing. I especially avoided introducing my own etic terms by asking either general, open ended questions followed by probing queries or specific questions based on observations I made or information collected from other participants. I purposely abstained from injecting terms such as ‘morale’ or ‘cohesion’ until I had heard one of my participants use them.
Over the course of my fieldwork I conducted 77 interviews averaging about six per day. The interviews ranged from informal to semi formal and varied in length from
ten minutes to nearly an hour. The reason for such a high number of interviews is due to
the nature of military cookery and the time constraints of my participants. I would have preferred to conduct fewer, longer interviews but to get the type of data I was after
required eschewing the more formal style of interviewing and breaking up the interviews
29 into more manageable chunks. The interviews were often conducted during breaks, while participants were engaged in tasks that allowed them to speak freely, or during meals.
There were occasions where the interview participant and I met specifically to converse in a separate locale but it was difficult to organize these. I conducted fewer interviews per day at the beginning of my fieldwork, since I was more focused on observation, with the number of interviews increasing as time went on. I interviewed nine senior
NCOs/Officers (ranks included Lt, CWO, MWO, and Sgt), twenty three junior NCOs
(ranks included MCpl, Cpl, and Pte), and eleven civilian employees (positions included
Fos 5, Fos 2, and Shipping/Receiving) (see Appendix C for distribution). All of the names used in this text are pseudonyms to protect the identity of my participants.
Due to the fact that I was researching a small, distinct group wherein I had access to virtually all members and because of the demanding schedules of military personnel I chiefly employed convenience sampling (Bernard 2011:147). I did not need to be overly concerned with getting a representative sample because the group was small enough that
I could speak with nearly all of its members. I did occasionally use sampling techniques other than convenience when the situation called for it including snowball sampling and theoretical sampling (Bernard 2011). I primarily used the latter two techniques at the very beginning of my research to facilitate rapport building and the recruitment of potential participants. I would tell my primary contact what kind of information I was interested in and he would suggest which individuals could provide me with it and be willing to talk with me.
Although I had originally intended on digitally recording all my interviews this plan started to seem like a bad idea during my first week on base. During this time I
30 mentioned to several participants that I had brought a voice recorder and would be carrying it around with me once I began doing semi structured interviews. My statements frequently prompted an abrupt change in my participants’ demeanor and a mild expression of distrust washing across their face. The change in demeanor coupled with a few statements from key participants indicating that military personnel may not feel comfortable with me recording their statements were enough to make up my mind. I decided to abandon my plans to digitally record interviews and instead relied on my jottings to reconstruct the interviews. With a little practice I was able to recreate detailed accounts of these discussions in my field notes.
Another tactic I developed was the ‘go to question’ which was a question or set of questions that I kept primed and ready to go in case of unexpected interviews. Since I had no previous experience with military bases it was necessary for me to find a starting point; a small piece of knowledge that I could expand on. I would look for a visible phenomenon or a frequently discussed topic that I could use as a foothold and bootstrap
my way through conversations to further information or new topics. I did carry around a
3x5 index card on which I kept a list of questions that I wanted to ask but they were quite
general and I crafted them prior to my arrival meaning that they carried all of my preconceived notions with them. Because my focus is on the everyday experience of
soldiers I wanted to frame my questions using terms and concepts that were emic in
nature. To use the analogy of clothing, I felt that buying indigenous garments would
leave me better equipped to deal with the local conditions than if I were to bring clothes
from home.
31 One example which highlights the reason for developing go to questions was a brief interview I did with the Chief Cook of the army. The chief cook came to speak with the Food Services personnel at CFB Wainwright and while I was milling about the messes one day I was abruptly introduced to him. I was told that he was willing to answer any questions I had. In the matter of a few moments I was thrust into an interview situation with a high ranking member of the group I was studying without any notice.
This was a situation where my go to questions came in extremely handy as I was able to launch fairly quickly into the interview habitus I had developed.
2.8.4 Participant Observation
Although I did not realize it at the time, I began participant observation (Spradley
1980) the minute I arrived at CFB Wainwright. Upon arrival I was given a tour of the base and was set up with a room in the Yukon Lodge. I found out later that at least four of the personnel from Food Services were also staying there. So not only was I able to participate in activities which directly pertained to military cooks but also in the broader experience of soldiers at CFB Wainwright. I was able to hear the sounds of live fire exercises and see long lines of exhausted men and women running by my window at six in the morning. Since I had not previously spent any time on a military base every aspect of the experience was new to me and this benefited my research greatly.
I had a little difficulty with carrying out the participant observation portion of the project for the first couple of days. I was quite nervous and as a result my appetite was subdued. I also encountered another situation which took me a couple weeks to resolve.
Prior to leaving for the field I had gotten into the habit of eating six or seven small meals
32 rather than three larger ones. Since the mess halls served food during three specific periods I needed to become accustomed to eating larger quantities less often. It took at least a week before I could finish every item on my plate and almost a month before I began eating dessert on a regular basis.
After I had spent a couple weeks observing life in the messes of CFB Wainwright and speaking with its personnel I decided it was time to put on my ‘whites’ and begin participating as much as possible in their activities. At first some of the participants seemed apprehensive about letting me join in but after hearing about my experience in commercial kitchens several participants began actively seeking my help. By the last week of fieldwork I was being tasked with working on the serving line at least once a day. The tasks in which I was allowed to take part generally fell under three categories: cutting/peeling vegetables, cutting/wrapping desserts, and working on the serving line.
While the other data collection techniques allowed me to intellectually understand the nature of food preparation and service on base, it was participating in the routine activities which gave me a visceral sense of what it is like to be a military cook.
The activity in which I spent the most time participating was meal times. I ate in the CMK or one of the other messes a total of 62 times, usually for either breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner. One aspect of eating in the CMK that I had to manage was when to eat a meal with the diners and when to eat with the CMK staff. I tended to eat more often with the diners at first but towards the end of my fieldwork I ate more often with the staff. The two experiences were quite different so I found it important to try and capture both experiences. In terms of sampling strategy my main focus was to simply eat a different combination of items at every meal. I did not want to fall into the habit of
33 continuously consuming the same meals everyday and so I recorded the components of each meal I ate. On some days it was hard to choose between the available items because they all looked equally appealing while on other days it was hard to choose because they were all items I was not very fond of. My own personal tastes are a very prominent feature of my field notes.
2.8.5 Photographs
To supplement my textual data I took numerous pictures throughout the final three weeks of my time on base. The subject of the photographs tended to fall into three categories: equipment, foodstuffs, and spaces. These photographs were valuable not only as visual aides or as a means of data collection in itself but also as a mnemonic device.
The SSRRB coordinator provided me with a link to a database of photos mostly intended for the use of journalists as an accompanying picture for their reports. As discussed above, I was subject to constraints regarding what I could photograph and when. I could not take photos of people which meant that I had to frame all my pictures in such a way as to exclude the people working in the area or take the photos when nobody was around.
I stored the photographs in the same manner as my field notes with copies and on three password protected memory sticks in a variety of secure locations. Over the course of my fieldwork I took 1466 photographs.
2.9 Analysis
After returning from the field site I made the decision to wait two weeks before sifting through the data I had collected to give myself a break and ruminate on the
34 experiences I had over the previous couple of months. I lasted ten days before starting to roughly organize my notes, photographs, and all the other things I had collected since starting my research. After going through everything it became clear that I had much more information than I could include in a Master’s thesis and so the next step was to prioritize my data in terms of what I wanted to present once I began writing. I decided to
focus on my fieldnotes, which include data collected through observations, participant
observation, and interviews, and textual data which consisted mainly of Food Services
Technical Manuals. I do refer to information collected from other sources such as
historical data gathered during the literature review phase and autoethnographic data
collected prior to entering the field but the main focus of my analysis was field data.
2.9.1 Constant Comparative Method
Following the period of organization and familiarization I began to employ the
constant comparative method (Glaser 1965; Glaser & Strauss 1967). The constant
comparative method, as Glaser (1965:439) outlines, has four stages: “(1) comparing
incidents applicable to each category, (2) integrating categories and their properties, (3)
delimiting the theory, and (4) writing the theory”. For the first step, I read through a copy
of my data, organized chronologically in the order in which I collected it, and coded the
information into the highest number of categories of analysis as I could. I did so by
copying and pasting incidents under headings corresponding to my categories of analysis
which I created as they arose in the data. Some incidents fit under multiple headings
while others warranted categories of their own. As I coded each incident I compared it
with the other incidents recorded under the same heading. At first I would reread the
35 incidents recorded previously but as I went back and forth I was able to do much of the comparison from memory which sped up the process. As I compared the various incidents I arrived at theoretical ideas that I recorded as memos in a separate document.
This process produced a document listing 229 categories of analysis and the accompanying data.
After completing the first stage of my analysis I began to move from comparisons of incidents with incidents to comparisons of incidents with categories. At first the memos were theoretical bits and pieces but as the process unfolded these bits and pieces began to develop into more elaborate theoretical understandings. The categories eventually became integrated through their continuous juxtaposition with incidents and other categories. As this integration occurred I began collapsing some categories into each other and removing categories with only a small number of incidents or those that were repetitive to begin delimiting the theory. In the end, I winnowed the categories down to a manageable 36 categories of analysis on which I would focus my attempts at developing theoretical understanding. At this point I began writing up my theories in reference to the categories, memos, and broader theoretical understandings that were produced from the constant comparative method as well as accessing the existing theoretical literature that could be used to illuminate my categories of analysis.
2.9.2 Technical Manuals
Among the textual data I collected at CFB Wainwright were several Food
Services Technical Manuals (DND/CF 2002, 2009). Due to the overwhelming quantity of data contained in these manuals, totalling 499 pages, I was unable to complete an analysis
36 with the same depth as my fieldnotes which were shorter in length, totalling 174 pages.
Instead of employing an in depth coding strategy, I read through the technical manuals and highlighted the sections that were relevant to the theoretical understandings I developed during the analysis of my fieldnotes. As I read through the manuals I did compare what I read to the incidents and categories of analysis developed through the analysis of my fieldnotes but I did not employ the constant comparative method in its entirety.
2.9.3 Goals
The purpose of the analysis is to examine how those in charge of feeding the armed forces manage to consistently provide sustenance for huge numbers of soldiers both domestically and in warfare situations in addition to conveying how my participants
experienced their roles. A more theoretical aspiration is to explore the intersection of
military food, the senses, and morale. Through the exploration of my data using the
constant comparative method I worked to produce an ethnographic representation of the
daily lives of troops as it concerns eating as well as a theoretical understanding of the role
of the physical senses in the experience of food and eating in the military context.
2.10 Conclusion
In this chapter, I have described the methods I used to gather, organize, and
analyze the data from which the subsequent chapters are mainly derived. I outlined my
two autoethnographic projects, the issues I had with access including ethics review and
negotiation in the field, and my techniques for observation, interviewing, and participant
37 observation. Lastly, I outlined my approach towards organizing and analyzing the data I collected during my fieldwork. These methods allowed me to collect and interpret a large amount of information regarding military food and feeding in the CF. In the two subsequent chapters I present the results of my fieldwork and discuss the theoretical understandings derived from my analysis.
38 Chapter 3: Tireless Warriors
In this chapter I discuss the nature of military food, the spatial and social
organization of food services in the CF, the role of military cook, and the general day to
day activities that go into feeding the armed forces. The topics are organized into three
sections. The first section, Soldier Cooks , outlines the basic characteristics of the soldier cook. The second portion, Military Food: Static Feeding , describes military feeding in established locations such as military bases. The third segment, Military Food: Dynamic
Feeding , illustrates military feeding outside of established locations including field
kitchens and operational rations. The chapter is mainly descriptive and based largely on
the data I gathered during my fieldwork. Unless otherwise indicated, the information
derives from my fieldnotes in which I recorded my observations, interviews, and participant observation.
3.1 Soldier Cooks
Military cook is a trade in the armed forces. In the CF, a military cook is part of
the food services section in the logistics personnel branch (DND/CF ND). The logistics branch also includes trades such as transportation, ammunition, supply chain
management, postal, and human resources management. Not all personnel who work in
Food Services are in fact soldiers. Rather, civilians occupy many positions. Thus, one can
distinguish between those who work in military Food Services and those who are military
cooks. The former includes civilian employees such as accountants, administrators,
39 support staff, shipper/receivers, and civilian cooks while the latter term applies specifically to soldiers in the trade.
The primary role of a military cook is to provide sustenance for military personnel and DND employees (DND/CF 2007). Military cooks must have a flexible skill set. The types of meals they create vary greatly, including box lunches for soldiers involved in
field exercises to high volume, cafeteria style meals, and elaborate, multi course meals
for visiting dignitaries. Military cooks are also responsible for the cleanliness and
maintenance of food services facilities and equipment in addition to workplace health and
safety procedures. A military cook can serve in many different capacities whether at
home or abroad, in times of peace or times of war, at sea, in the air, or on land.
3.1.1 Recipe Books
Military specific recipe books have been around for some time (US War
Department 1896; US War Department 1910; Anonymous 1915). Contemporary CF
Food Services uses a technical manual titled, Food Services Direction and Guidance
Manual (2009) for regulations, recommended procedures, DND standards, etc. with a
separate collection of recipes. Canadian Forces: Recipes is a multi volume set of binders,
each with a specific focus such as Breads/Dessert, Soups, etc., that contain lists of
ingredients, directions, and measures to prepare a wide array of dishes. Many of the
weights and measures of the recipes are in grams, rather than in the imperial measures
that are more standard for cooking even in countries that have adopted the metric system
which facilitates altering the yields produced by the various recipes.
40 Considerable sums are spent producing and distributing food related manuals for the armed forces. One cook, MCpl Steve Boyer, told me that the CF recipe books cost somewhere in the range of two or three million dollars to develop. My participants were split regarding the utility of the CF recipe collection. The individuals who spent the majority of their time working in static kitchens tended towards using one of several recipe collection websites (e.g. food.com, allrecipes.com, epicurious.com) or even common civilian cookbooks such as the Joy of Cooking (2006 Rombauer et al.). Many, if not most, of these participants told me they considered the CF recipe collection to be well designed and useful but not worth the cost of development. The converse also appears to be true in that the individuals with significant field experience spoke of the CF recipe collection in much more favourable terms. For example, MCpl Boyer told me that he brought his set with him everywhere he went including his deployment to Afghanistan and found it to be indispensable.
3.1.2 Equipment
A military cook has a lot of equipment at his disposal. From knives to pots and pans, soldier cooks have many weapons in their figurative arsenal. Equipment is one
element that changes on a regular basis. Some of my participants who had been in the CF
for a long time were critical of some of the changes. Some of the more experienced Food
Services personnel, senior Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and officers, perceived
the younger generation as being taught to use technology rather than learning tried and
true techniques. The major concern was that under these conditions a broken piece of
equipment or lack of premade foods could halt production because cooks would be
41 unable to adapt. An example of such technologies is premade frozen cookie dough where the only step left in preparation is putting raw cookies on a tray and placing them in the oven.
One participant, Fred Hamill (a senior NCO whose rank is withheld to preserve anonymity), expressed that the tendency towards pre prepared foods such as frozen cookie dough meant that many of the newer cooks were losing the skills and knowledge required to make cookies from scratch with a limited number of ingredients in a combat setting. The emic term ‘Gucci gear’ describes some of the equipment, like electric slicers, that struck Hamill as frivolous. The term, with its reference to the high end line of commercial apparel, shows derision for the new equipment and pre prepared foods as things that are replacing the skills and knowledge that military cooks traditionally prized.
Experienced NCOs did not have a negative view toward all of the technological innovations. Hamill, for instance, recounted how when he was doing field cooking someone always brought a case of D cell batteries for the portable stereo whereas now soldiers typically bring their ipods with speakers and plug them right into an electrical socket.
3.1.3 Dress and Adornment
An important element of the military institution is clothing and related accessories. In the military setting, dress and adornment is responsible for regulating power through the use of expressive symbols (Roach & Eicher 1965). The number of symbols carried in the dress and adornment of military personnel is vast. Symbols can convey a bounty of information such as group membership, competency, rank, trade, and
42 so forth. Sometimes clothing and other adornments convey explicit messages such as rank and trade through the display of rank insignia and other times they send less explicit messages such as whether a person has mastered proper ironing technique, which suggests something about the person’s aptitude, values, and discipline. When I first began wearing the standard kitchen uniform I was told that it was obvious I was a civilian since my shoes were not polished, my shirt was not adequately ironed, and I had not folded my apron in the proper manner. My participants quickly noticed the aspects of my dress that indicated I did not belong in the group.
I observed four different uniforms worn by Food Services personnel. The combat uniform, referred to by my participants simply as ‘combats’ , is a uniform comprised of a long sleeved, button up jacket, pants with drawstrings on the cuff, and high boots. The jacket and trousers are in a pixellated camouflage pattern called the Canadian Disruptive
Pattern (Comeau 2007). Rank insignia, embroidered on a piece of material, is attached to the combat jacket midway down the centre line. Personnel ranked higher than Shift I/C wear combats while working but they have a chef’s jacket for situations where they are preparing or serving food.
The cooks’ uniform, called ‘whites’ by my participants, is worn by most Food
Services personnel while working in the mess. It consists of a white, short sleeved, button up shirt, white pants, and a white apron tied around the waist and extends down from the waist to about midway up the lower leg. The headgear is a small, black brimless hat resembling a beanie. ‘Whites’ can be worn with a variety of black footwear including combat boots with the selection largely dependant on whether the individual is a civilian
43 or military staff member. A military cook also wears a piece of embroidered material containing rank insignia on loops sewed onto each shoulder of the jacket.
The general duty (GD) personnel in Food Services typically wear their combats when working in the mess. They are permitted to remove their jacket however and simply wear the green t shirt that is normally donned underneath the combat jacket. For headgear, they wear disposable white paper hats. Since the role of GD is a temporary one they are not issued any permanent food services specific dress or adornment. The civilian support staff members known as Fos 2s wear scrubs, the two piece simple uniforms standard in a variety of professions such as nursing and veterinary care. These scrubs usually consist of a pullover top worn on top of an undershirt and simple trousers. Fos 2s typically wear running shoes for footwear and hairnets for headgear.
3.1.4 Military Food
Until as recently as the 19 th century, food preparation was largely the
responsibility of each individual soldier. Warfighters were given raw food and it was
incumbent upon them to prepare it (e.g. Roman Army: Davies 1971; Mongols:
Weatherford 2004, Union Army: Billings 1993[1887]). The United States did not begin
training military cooks until the late 19th century (Fisher & Fisher 2011). Until that time
individuals would typically cook their own food or a group would designate one person
as cook on a rotating basis. Occasionally, one individual would have civilian training as a baker or cook and this person would become the de facto cook for the group. Even as
recently as World War I soldiers cooked much of their food in the trenches (Weeks
2009). Contemporary national militaries have dedicated cooks with specialized training
44 in food service and armed forces devote considerable sums to develop and produce their own recipe books and food service manuals.
An important aspect to consider when attempting to define military food as a category is context. When military personnel eat in a military setting their food is readily identifiable as military food regardless of its origins. However, saying that military food is any food eaten by someone belonging to the military, while in a sense accurate, is too expansive a definition for my purposes. I prefer to also focus on the context of production and define military food as food produced by personnel within the military institution for the purposes of feeding soldiers .
3.1.5 Sanitation and Hygiene
One aspect of military cookery that was repeatedly discussed by my participants was sanitation and hygiene. Sanitation and personal hygiene are of the utmost importance because large numbers of individuals eating in a relatively confined area can lead to the spread of communicable diseases. A soldier afflicted with an illness cannot operate at full capacity in many cases and thus it is extremely important to avoid spreading harmful microorganisms. Acknowledging the importance of sanitation and hygiene is not a recent phenomenon. In January 1862, the US Government Printing Office issued a limited release of what was one of the first manuals pertaining specifically to military cooking,
Captain James Sanderson’s Camp Fires and Camp Cooking: or Culinary Hints for the
Soldier . The book stressed how vital sanitary practices were to health and morale:
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, both in persons and kettles: be ever industrious, then, in scouring your pots. Much elbow grease, a few ashes, and a little water, are capital aids to the careful cook. Better wear out your pans with scouring than your stomachs with purging; and it is less dangerous to work your elbows than
45 your comrades bowels. Dirt and grease betray the poor cook, and destroy the poor soldier; whilst health, content, and good cheer should ever reward him who does his duty and keeps his kettle clean. (Sanderson 1862:4)
Due to the importance of avoiding illness, food borne or otherwise, there are CF regulations regarding what constitutes proper sanitation and hygiene (DND/CF 2009: sec.
2, para. 206; DND/CF 2002: chap. 8). For example, bathing is not something most soldiers can count on while on a field exercise or in a combat environment. According to
Cpl Danton, the exceptions to this rule are medics and cooks who are required to bathe once a day as a means of reducing the risk or consequences of disease transmission. In addition to the regulations, soldiers follow numerous routines to ensure the lowest possible risk of food borne illness. One example is hand washing. Not only do cooks wash their hands frequently but one of the mess Duty NCO’s responsibilities is to help maximize the practice of hand washing by keeping an eye on incoming diners.
3.1.6 Static vs Dynamic Feeding
Military feeding falls under two headings: static feeding and dynamic feeding.
Static feeding refers to provisioning food in an established dining facility like a mess hall. Dynamic feeding refers to food provisioning in situations other than established dining facilities. Examples of dynamic feeding situations are mobile kitchens set up for a field exercise, forward operating bases (FOB) in a combat environment, or hayboxes sent out to feed soldiers who cannot make it to the CMK. According to the CF website, close to half of all military cooks are employed in static feeding situations, serving at bases or wings, while the rest work in dynamic feeding situations such as ships, submarines, or land based operational units (DND/CF 2011).
46 3.2 Military Food: Static Feeding
3.2.1 Mess Feeding
As the name implies, mess food is the sustenance provided to soldiers who are eating in the mess , the official dining facility of military bases. The name derives from
the Old French word mes meaning ‘portion of food’ ( mets in modern usage) (Jobson
2009). In English, the word first appears in the 13th century and most often refers to
liquid foods (e.g. porridge, soup) or cooked dishes. In the 15th century, the term mess
denoted a group of individuals who ate together. The term mess is currently used
specifically in the military context. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as “a place where members of the armed forces may eat and relax” (Soanes 2002). I define the
term ‘mess hall’ as the official location on a military base where soldiers can obtain and consume food . In Canada, the style and number of mess halls per base varies depending on the location.
The messes at CFB Wainwright serve food in a cafeteria style with an emphasis on variety and choice. How the messes are organized maximizes the number of people who can be served in a given amount of time at the lowest cost while catering to individual preferences and maintaining a minimum level of nutrition. This balance was a popular theme among all ranks of participants but was especially a concern of the I/C ’s.
The cafeteria style combines self service and full service. Tasks of individual diners, that
I completed numerous times, include collecting a serving tray and utensils, pouring beverages, selecting condiments, and clearing tables. Tasks that are the responsibility of staff include service of hot food (a large portion of my participant observation), making sandwiches (when the cold sandwich station is operational), and wiping tables. I observed
47 a basic rhythm to these activities based around meal times: Cook→ Serve→ Clean. This process occurs for each of the three meals per day. Add to this process the opening and closing procedures for the mess and you have a representation of a typical day: Open→
Cook→ Breakfast→ Clean up→ Cook→ Lunch→ Clean up→ Cook→ Dinner→ Clean up→ Close.
Each meal is available during a designated period of time and must be a minimum of ninety minutes (DND/CF 2007: chap. 2, para. 205.4). At CFB Wainwright, breakfast happens from 06:00 until 08:00 (06:30 08:00 at the smaller messes), lunch from 11:30 until 13:00, and dinner from 16:30 until 18:00. Messes sometimes offer brunch on the weekends depending on whether there is an adequate number of potential diners on base to justify serving the meal. Brunch differs from a normal lunch in that it begins at 10:30 and consists of a full breakfast menu. Additionally, the mess has to be available to authorized diners every day of the year including weekends and holidays (DND/CF 2007: chap. 2, para. 205.3).
3.2.2 CFB Wainwright Messes (See Appendix D for Diagrams)
At CFB Wainwright there are three mess halls: one large mess hall, the Combined
Mess Kitchen (CMK), that is open year round and two smaller mess halls, the
Wainwright Officers’ Mess (WOM) and the Warrants’ and Sergeants’ Mess (WSM), that are open when there is a sufficient number of diners. There is also a fourth mess, the
Junior Ranks’ Mess, but food is not served here; rather, it is a bar and entertainment area for soldiers ranking from private to master corporal.
48 The CMK is a combined mess where soldiers of any rank and civilians can attend.
The CMK is open every day of the year and at times when there are insufficient numbers to justify operating the smaller messes it is the only dining facility open on base. The
CMK is made up of five general areas: the dining area, the serving area, the kitchen area, the warehouse and shipping/receiving area, and the summer serving area. All food production takes place in the kitchen area. Diners obtain their food from the serving area.
There is also a relatively small serving area attached to the CMK, the summer servery, that is used for overflow or to host catered events. People bring their food to the dining area to eat after retrieving it from the serving area. The shipping/receiving area is a large, cavernous building that is used for shipping and receiving product as well as for storage.
The Warrants’ and Sergeants’ Mess is a smaller mess where only soldiers who have reached the rank of sergeant or above can attend unescorted. It consists of essentially the same type of kitchen, serving, and dining areas housed in the CMK only on a smaller scale. The WSM has a capacity of 120 patrons. The mealtimes are the same as the CMK except for breakfast which begins half an hour later (i.e. 06:30 rather than
06:00) due to the significantly lower number of diners eating at the WSM. The lower volume of diners also means freshly prepared foods can be produced in smaller batches which basically allows for fresher foods prepared with more care than would be possible in the CMK. The WSM is also a place where warrant officers and sergeants can go to relax at the end of the day. There is a bar and various forms of entertainment including poker tournaments, TGIT, billiards, and televised sporting events. On the last Friday of every month the WSM hosts an event called Friendship Friday, a buffet style lunch where warrant officers and sergeants and people from the surrounding community can get
49 together and interact with one another. The WSM can also be booked for special events such as weddings and Christmas parties.
One notable difference between the WSM and the other two messes is that one needs to earn the right to use the WSM through promotion. A brand new Officer cadet can eat in the Officers’ Mess and a newly minted private can eat in the Junior Ranks
Mess but it is only once a soldier reaches the rank of sergeant that he can eat at the WSM unaccompanied. The way in which accomplishment is reflected in admission was a point of pride for the non commissioned members (NCM) I spoke with. The amount of time and experience it takes to reach these ranks means that the dining population tends to vary demographically in that it tends to be an older group. This situation leads to variation from the CMK in terms of food preference such as a lower demand for foods like chicken fingers and pizza which tend to be more popular in the CMK.
The Officers’ Mess is a smaller mess where only officers can attend unescorted. It
is of similar size to the WSM and contains similar areas and equipment. Like the WSM, it
has basically the same type of kitchen, serving, and dining areas housed in the CMK only
on a smaller scale. The Officers’ Mess has a capacity of 80 patrons. The mealtimes are
identical to those at the CMK except for Breakfast which begins half an hour later (i.e.
06:30 rather than 06:00) because there are significantly fewer diners eating at the
Officers’ Mess. The lower volume of diners again means freshly prepared foods can be produced in smaller quantities which gives one the ability to produce dishes with more
care than would be possible in the CMK. Like the WSM, the Officers’ Mess is also a place where an officer can go to relax at the end of the day. The WOM includes a bar and
various other forms of entertainment including movies, video games, billiards, and
50 televised sporting events. On the first Wednesday of every month the WOM hosts an event called the Business Man Luncheon. The Business Man Luncheon is a lunch where
Officers and people from the surrounding community can get together and interact with one another. The Officers’ Mess can also be booked for special events such as weddings and Christmas parties.
3.2.3 Cycle Menu (DND/CF 2009: chap. 2, sec. 4 & annex H; DND/CF 2002: sec. 4)
The menu offered in the mess varies from day to day. The menu selections are made for a designated period of time by the I/C Kitchen . The period of time is based on the average number of weeks that a soldier will regularly eat at the mess hall. So, if there is a high degree of transience among the feeding population at a particular location then the cycle can be short while bases with a large number of permanent or relatively long term residents is longer. Therefore, a location like a hospital that has a low number of long term residents can effectively employ a one week cycle menu whereas a place like
CFB Valcartier with many long term regular diners uses a five week cycle menu. The standard period of time for a cycle menu in the CF is three weeks which is the format
CFB Wainwright uses. The purpose of varying the length of the cycle menu based on the relative permanence of diners is to prevent their diet from becoming overly monotonous by maintaining a level of variety.
WO Bienstock listed several reasons why cycle menus are used but they generally fell into three categories. The first line of reasoning, which I mentioned in the previous paragraph, is to ensure a healthy degree of variation in the daily offerings and to prevent items from being repeated too often which can be detrimental to morale, health, or food
51 costs. Second, a repeating cycle menu requires less time overall to create than generating a new menu every week. Third, preparing the menus for several weeks worth of meals allows those in charge to better plan for labour requirements, equipment requirements, food purchase, and so forth.
There are numerous considerations when producing a cycle menu. A successful cycle menu is well balanced and satisfies the personal tastes of diners. Cost, nutrition, variety (in flavour, appearance, texture, temperature, garnishes/accompaniments, etc.), market/local conditions, and ease of production (availability of space for storage and preparation; availability of equipment; the availability and capabilities of employees, etc.) must all be maintained within certain thresholds. WO Bienstock stressed the importance of being accurate and honest in the naming of dishes or food items so that diners understand what they are eating. There is even a legal imperative in certain circumstances to prevent the intentional or unintentional misleading of patrons.
The I/C Kitchen has a considerable degree of freedom in generating the cycle menu but this freedom is not absolute. Some parts of the menu are dictated by DND policy standards such as the categories of foods to be offered, portion size, and nutritional requirements. Within these requirements the I/C Kitchen at individual messes makes their selections such as what items are to be offered in each category. After the menu cycle is completed the I/C Kitchen makes amendments, if necessary, based on the amount of waste, the reactions of diners, sales data, ease of service, and changing costs.
52 3.2.4 Feeding Commitment
The potential feeding population on base at a given mealtime is called the
‘feeding commitment’ . Simply put, it is the number of people on base who could possibly eat in the mess for a particular meal. To coordinate between the different groups on base the I/C Production receives requests from the various units which he inputs into
a computer and then prints it out as a matrix which is posted around the kitchens.
According to Sgt Enders and Sgt Elridge, getting accurate reports on the potential feeding
commitment is a constant struggle that requires a great deal of “crystal ball reading” (i.e.
forecasting). Conditions change rapidly based on the exercises that are occurring, the
arrival of flights, the individual choices of diners, and other such vicissitudes. Also, the
actual attendance at a specific meal is typically lower than the number of people on base
who could potentially attend. WO Bienstock explained to me that the actual attendance
varies between breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a relatively predictable pattern that is taken
into account when assigning quantities of production. The numbers used by Food Service personnel are breakfast (75%), lunch (90%), and dinner (95%).
3.2.5 Mess Dress
Individuals must maintain a certain standard of dress when they eat in the mess.
At the entrance to the CMK there is a large sign that lists acceptable and unacceptable attire (See Appendix E, Image 1). There is also a smaller sign taped just to the left that contains the French translation of the attire regulations. Unacceptable attire includes such things as cut off clothing, revealing shirts, uncovered feet, coveralls (except for detainees), swimsuits, clothing with language/images deemed rude, obscene, etc.,
53 camouflage paint, and mixing military and civilian dress. No firearms of any kind are allowed in the mess except for the side arms of military police who are on duty. A Duty
NCO or Senior Cook also has discretion to disallow any items of dress or adornment that they deem unacceptable. Physical Training (PT) gear is the clothing worn during physical training. Although included on the list of unacceptable attire at the entrance, PT gear is considered acceptable attire during breakfast or on weekends and is very common at these times. The standards regarding dress apply not only to on duty military personnel but to diners who are off duty or even civilians who must abide by the regulations.
3.2.6 Social Organization (See Appendix D, Figure 6)
Base Food Services Officer: The Base Food Services Officer is responsible for the overall planning of food services. The Base Food Services Officer acts as advisor to the Base Logistics Officer on all matters relating to Food Services and mediates between the superior officers and the subordinate NCMs. The Base Food Services Officer is responsible for interpreting and dictating policy within food services. Generally speaking, policies come from further up the command chain and are communicated to the Chief
Cook who is responsible for ensuring they are carried out. So basically the Base Logistics
Officer makes his wishes known to the Base Food Services Officer who then tells the
Chief Cook who deals with the logistics of carrying out the order. Conversely, any issues in need of resolution or requests from Food Services NCOs are expressed through the
Base Food Services Officer who adds his input and sends it to his superior who in turn adds his input and so on until it reaches the final decision maker. The Base Food Services
54 Officer has final signing authority and is ultimately responsible for approving or denying all requests.
Chief Cook: The Chief Cook, also known as the I/C Kitchen, is responsible for
anything and everything that occurs within food services. He is in charge of the crew
management of all military personnel and is the technical advisor to the Base Food
Services Officer. The Base Food Services Officer has extensive knowledge regarding
official policy, while the Chief Cook has a great deal of technical expertise based on his
years of experience and can provide advice about the logistics of carrying out policy.
Since the Chief Cook is a senior NCO he has occupied every role and thus carries a
cognitive map (Kitchin 1994) of how the kitchen runs which facilitates the problem free
enactment of policy. For example, if budget cuts need to be made by the Base Food
Services Officer the Chief Cook can suggest where cuts can be made, the impact the cuts
will have in a particular area, what personnel are affected, and what the overall
ramifications of the cuts might be. The Chief Cook, like the Base Food Services Officer,
is responsible for planning but takes a shorter term view. While the Base Food Services
Officer plans for several years in advance the Chief Cook plans for several months in
advance.
The Chief Cook is the primary disciplinarian for food services. He makes sure
that each individual is doing his job appropriately. Lower ranking NCMs also have a role
in correcting infractions but any significant corrective measures are the responsibility of
the Chief Cook. With that being said, Sgt Elridge emphasized that the Chief Cook will
almost never ‘shit on’ (i.e. correct through telling) the lower ranks in food services because he would risk undermining the authority of the I/C Kitchen. The only exception
55 to this rule is in cases where there is an immediate and pressing concern to do with force protection issues such as health and sanitation. Should the Chief Cook witness a subordinate acting in a manner which jeopardizes the health and safety of others he will intervene but will also inform the I/C Kitchen and ask him to either deal with it immediately or keep a careful watch for future infractions.
I/C Combined Mess Kitchen: The I/C CMK, also known as I/C Kitchen, is in charge of anything that occurs within the CMK including all staff, food, and equipment.
Any issues to do with health, sanitation, and safety fall under his purview. The I/C CMK is responsible for producing and revising the cycle menus. A large part of the I/C CMK role involves delegating tasks to other personnel and therefore it requires an intimate knowledge of all aspects of military cooking as well as the specific kitchen of which they are in charge. The I/C CMK must have an up to date overview of what is occurring in the kitchen so that he is able to envision the overall trajectory a task must take. The I/C
Kitchen must also ensure that the Production I/C is kept up to date regarding forecasts and feeding requirements. The I/C CMK also directly observes the daily kitchen activities and receives feedback from personnel outside of food services who have eaten in the mess.
I/C Production: The I/C Production oversees the day to day activities of the
CMK as regarding the preparation of food. He is responsible for short term planning such
as ensuring there are adequate provisions and staff for all menus and feeding
commitments during a one week cycle. One of the primary methods of planning for the
I/C Production is creating Production Control Charts. The charts are essentially the cycle
menu for a particular meal on a particular day and have spaces to write who will
56 complete what task, how many of each item was served, and other such information. The charts are used to plan, communicate, and carry out the preparation of meals.
I/C Procurement: The I/C Procurement is tasked with acquiring the necessary
supplies for food services. Supplies include paper products, cleaning supplies, fresh
foods, pre prepared foods, condiments, and any other product, except operational rations
and bottled water, required for the cycle menu and any other product that the CMK needs
to run effectively. The I/C Procurement has numerous responsibilities regarding the
acquisition of goods such as being in charge of Shipping/Receiving and ensuring the food budget is kept at the desired levels. The main tool used by the individual occupying this
role is ordering software called Unitrak . Since the exact number of potential diners is not
known there is a great deal of estimation and forecasting involved based on specialized
trade knowledge he must develop through experience and training. Occurrences such as
last minute cancellations or inaccurate feeding commitments can wreak havoc on the
delicate balance that must be maintained by the I/C Procurement.
I/C Catering: The I/C Catering is in charge of the special events and functions
that occur on base such as retirement parties and graduation ceremonies. The events can
vary from formal to informal based on the needs and preferences of the individual or
group hosting it. The I/C Catering keeps the other I/C personnel up to date regarding
events so that the proper arrangements can be made both in terms of procurement and production. The number of considerations that must be made when arranging an event is
great and includes product availability, cost, venue, timing, number of guests, the level of
formality, labour availability, and so on. He also works very closely with the person
hosting the event to develop a menu and event schedule that is acceptable to them.
57 I/C Warrant Officer and Sergeants’ Mess and I/C Officers’ Mess: Each of the
smaller messes has an I/C. Each mess may have a different I/C but the same person could potentially be in charge of each. Since the messes are in different locations the Chief
Cook must rely heavily on the reports or briefings regarding daily occurrences in the smaller messes. The person or persons in charge of the smaller messes are responsible for coordinating both daily meals and the special events which take place there. Events such as the Business Man’s Lunch (Wainwright Officer’s Mess) and Friendship Fridays
(Warrants’ and Sergeants’ Mess) are examples of events which fall under the purview of their respective I/C.
Shift I/C: The Shift I/C is the individual in charge of a given shift. He is responsible for many of the day to day activities that keep the kitchen running smoothly.
At the start of a shift individuals occupying this role delegates the day’s tasks out to personnel on that shift. They ensure that everything runs smoothly during their shift by overseeing production and, should the need arise, problem solving. They are responsible for food quality, safely and effectively using leftovers, the cleanliness of facilities, predicting required quantities, recording what is used and what is leftover, and ensuring there are adequate supplies for that portion of the cycle menu. At the end of a meal they must complete a chart indicating how much of a particular item was produced, how much was consumed, and how much remained. The Shift I/C is responsible to the I/C Kitchen and works for the I/C Production. Each shift has an I/C and thus the individual filling this role rotates with each shift. The Shift I/C is typically a master corporal and they have a
Shift 2IC that is a corporal.
58 General Duty Personnel (GDs)/Kitchen Augmentees: General Duty refers to being assigned to the mess as a kitchen helper. Tasks assigned to General Duty Personnel
(GDs), otherwise known as Kitchen Augmentees, usually involve some simple and repetitive task such as washing and putting away dishes and cutlery, making the containers for box lunches, or washing and cutting produce. GDs are assigned temporarily to this position for a variety of reasons: some are waiting for courses, others are subject to corrective training due to some infraction (e.g. failed an inspection), and others still are supporting the training exercise.
Duty NCO: Located at the front of the CMK, between the entrance and the serving area, there is a desk at which the duty NCO sits. The person occupying this role is responsible for checking incoming diners’ ration cards, ensuring diners wash their hands, maintaining the standards of dress, and dealing with misbehaviour. The Duty NCO is either a corporal or a master corporal and the individual tasked with this job rotates on a regular basis. An individual can also be given this position as a form of corrective training as a result of an infraction such as missing shifts or things of this nature. Neither the WSM or the Officers’ Mess have a Duty NCO since, according to Fred Hamill and
Sgt Elridge, at that point in their career they are expected to be able to do these things without the threat of coercion present.
3.3 Military Food: Dynamic Feeding
3.3.1 Box Lunch (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, annex A)
Box lunches are cold meals packaged in brown, cardboard containers served to soldiers who are on base but unable to come to the mess hall for their meals due to,
59 among other things training courses, and assigned duties. Box lunches consist of a collection of cold or room temperature foods. The specific combination depends on the meal. So, for example, breakfast may consist of cereal, milk, juice, bagel, and a variety of condiments while a dinner box lunch might include a sandwich, a piece of fruit, milk, juice, dessert, and an assortment of condiments. The boxed lunches are stored in a large walk in cooler and when needed are simply loaded onto a truck and transported to the field or wherever they are required.
3.3.2 Hayboxes
Hayboxes have been used in the armed forces since at least World War I. The
British Army used hayboxes to transport hot food to the front lines of the trenches
(Weeks 2009). Hayboxes are large thermos like containers which are used to serve hot meals to soldiers who are unable to come to the mess hall for meal time. The boxes are filled with hot water several hours ahead of time to heat them up thereby maximizing the insulating properties. When the food is ready to be sent out to the field the boxes are emptied and a small amount of hot water is poured into them. Then a metal pan containing the food is covered with aluminum foil and placed in the hayboxes. The lid is then placed on top and tightly latched. I witnessed many of these meals being packed and sent out to the field. A typical meal will be made up of six or more hayboxes depending on the number of soldiers who will be eating.
MCpl Boyer and Pte Barnes stressed that there are particular categories of food which are required in each haybox meal. Hayboxes are conducive to particular kinds of foods. For example, one would never place French fries in a haybox because by the time
60 it reached the soldier in the field it would be soggy. The flavour and texture of hot foods can be severely affected by placement in an enclosed space due to steam condensing on the inside of the container. Military cooks pay close attention to which items are packed in hayboxes so that a high standard of quality is maintained.
3.3.3 Field Kitchens
Field kitchens are cooking and dining areas set up to feed troops who are unable to eat in a static mess facility. A field kitchen consists of varying numbers and configurations of mobile kitchen trailers, refrigerated trucks, and shipping containers set up to provide storage for provisions, equipment for cooking meals, and a dining area.
They are used domestically and abroad to support training exercises, disaster relief efforts, and both combat and non combat operational requirements. While the challenges may differ from those in static kitchens many of the same standards and practices apply although adapted to fit the context. The field kitchen personnel must also balance cost, nutrition, individual preference, safety, volume, and speed along with all the responsibilities and risks of a soldier.
During my fieldwork at CFB Wainwright there was an ongoing field exercise intended to replicate, as close as safely possible (Irwin 2005), the conditions faced by troops deployed to Afghanistan. The exercise involved setting up the training area as a facsimile of operationally relevant Afghan locations down to such details as hiring actors to play the role of local Afghanis. With regard to food services, three separate kitchens imitated conditions in Afghanistan: one representing Kandahar Airfield, another representing a Provincial Reconstruction Team, and a third representing an FOB. The
61 military cooks operating at these field kitchens, as I learned from my trip to the exercise area, are simultaneously supporting the field exercise and training for their role in
Afghanistan.
The potential for transmitting harmful microorganisms is amplified in a field setting. The limited bathing and waste facilities coupled with the close quarters and the natural elements allow illness causing microorganisms to be more readily passed from host to host. There are several precautions that are taken to help mediate the increased risk such as strategic placement and monitoring of hand washing facilities and having separate portable washrooms for cooks. Separate washrooms are meant to insulate the individuals preparing food from any illness that may be spreading amongst diners. Were the cooks to contract an illness they could easily spread it to every soldier who eats there which could, in turn, lead to a crippling loss of personnel.
3.3.4 Field Kitchen Social Organization
Unit Chief Cook/Kitchen Officer (KO): Every field unit has a Unit Chief Cook, also known as Kitchen Officer (KO), who is responsible for that unit. The Unit Chief
Cook’s responsibilities include rations, production, receiving supplies, procurement, personnel, and ensuring the standards of sanitation and safety are met. The KO is responsible to either the unit quartermaster/logistics officer or the OC Admin Coy for
“defence, siting, deployment, movement, and for coordination of feeding requirements” but consults with the Brigade Chief Cook regarding food services policy and procedures
(DND/CF 2002:Chap.1, Sec.102, Para.9).
62 Field Cook: In the field, the shifts are long and arduous. A field unit cook’s day begins at around 04:30. The cooks’ sleeping quarters are located directly adjacent to the
field kitchen so they are nearby in case of accidents or attacks. They are in the kitchen by
05:00, preparing bacon, sausages, beans, and any other breakfast items listed on the cycle
menu for that day. For a field cook, the day doesn’t end until around 19:00, when the last
diner is fed and everything is clean and ready for use the next day or for the night baker if
there is one. The daily cycle is much like in the static messes: Open→ Cook→
Breakfast→ Clean up→ Cook→ Lunch→ Clean up→ Cook→ Dinner→ Clean up→
Close. Like the static kitchens, the field kitchens must be operational every day of the
year although there are sometimes interruptions to the usual daily cycle and this is usually
dealt with by serving operational rations for one or more meals each day. For instance,
MCpl Boyer stated that it can sometimes be necessary to set aside one day a week for
maintenance. This means that soldiers are fed combat rations for each meal while the
mobile kitchen facilities are stripped down and cleaned. In other situations one piece of
equipment at a time is rotated out of service to avoid a disruption in service.
MCpl Boyer was adamant that, in the field, cooks do not turn away hungry
soldiers. Even when units come in that are technically not entitled to eat at a particular
field kitchen they are fed at the highest possible standard. At the CMK, soldiers must
come during the designated meal period or they cannot expect to eat whereas in a field
kitchen it does not matter if a unit misses the standard meal times. Whether this involves
serving them leftovers or making something simple like fried egg sandwiches depends on
which food items, equipment, and staff members are available at the time. This is not due
to the privilege of static kitchens over field kitchens but rather due to the
63 acknowledgement that the rigors of work experienced by soldiers in the field are significantly greater, in most cases, than those of their static counterparts. The number of cooks preparing and serving each meal depends on the number of potential diners expected, the number of Mobile Kitchen Trailers (MKTs) that are deployed, the
configuration of the MKTs, the type of feeding to be done, and the number of cooks
available (DND/CF 2002: chap 1, sec. 4).
General Duty Personnel: Like in the mess, soldiers in the field are routinely
assigned to General Duty. GDs are responsible for aiding in produce preparation as well
as general maintenance of the dishwashing and dining areas. To help in the operation of
field kitchens, GDs are drawn from “unit personnel, on job training personnel, personnel
listed as minor casualties, or other personnel not immediately required to fulfill the
operational role of the unit” (DND/CF 2002:Chap.1, Sec.4, Para.14). Under normal
conditions the ratio of GDs to diners is one kitchen augmentee for every fifty diners.
Especially challenging situations may call for a higher ratio while a simplified feeding plan, such as one that employs operational rations, may call for a lower ratio.
3.3.5 Mobile Kitchen Trailers
Field kitchens (Appendix E, Image 5 & 7) are crafted from a variety of materials
and equipment largely consisting of modular tents, tarpaulins, plywood, zip ties, sea
crates, refrigerated trucks, and other such items (Appendix E, Image 6). The primary piece of equipment, however, is the Mobile Kitchen Trailer which my participants
sometimes referred to as a flying kitchen. An MKT is essentially a fold out trailer that is
hitched to a truck and hauled to a desired location. Upon arrival the sides of the kitchen
64 trailers are expanded outward and a series of modular cooking devices are set up in a variety of configurations. The specific configuration is based on the physical landscape, operational requirements, individual preference, the condition of the equipment, and a host of other factors.
Each MKT is equipped with two ovens, a steam line, and a grill each fuelled with propane gas. Other equipment includes counters, a sink, an insulated milk crate, and a warmer. As previously mentioned, none of the equipment in the MKT is fixed and it can therefore be arranged in the configuration that offers the greatest possible functionality.
The physical conditions inside of the field kitchens largely depend on the physical conditions outside of the MKT. They are not particularly insulated and therefore can get quite hot in hot climates and quite cold in cold climates. Some of the equipment puts out a lot of heat but only from three or four feet from the floor and up which leads to frigid lower extremities while everything from the waist up overheats. The heat from the equipment can also pose some danger of burns. In fact, the ovens are known colloquially as “tattoo makers” for their penchant to cause relatively uniform burn marks on the forearms of unfortunate cooks. Field unit cooks must also be careful to provide adequate ventilation of exhaust otherwise the possibility exists for suffocation.
Field kitchen facilities can be a little cramped and the situation is exacerbated by the increased load soldiers carry in a combat setting. Everyone is wearing their protective gear, webbing, ammo, and so forth which compounds the problem. Many are unable to bathe, eat fresh foods, stay adequately hydrated, communicate with loved ones, sleep, or change their clothes for extended periods due to harsh conditions. According to Sgt
Elridge, these field conditions cause many soldiers to become “mission heads” wherein
65 they gain an intense, singular focus on their own particular mission and the specific tasks that they are responsible for. There is a stark contrast between the static mess halls and field kitchens as a result of this situation and I was told that one does not see much smiling and laughing on these occasions.
3.3.6 Operational Rations
Operational rations, also known as combat, hard, or field rations, are packaged foods designed to be durable, transportable, and easily eaten with minimal preparation and effort for use in a combat environment or when other feeding options are unavailable.
A field ration typically consists of a self contained unit of food that is shelf stable for long periods of time. Operational rations have a relatively long history and what would constitute contemporary style permutations have developed over quite some time
(Dickson 1978; Fisher & Fisher 2011).
Each country has its own type or types of operational rations. All North American
Treaty Organization (NATO) countries have agreed to conform to a set of standards pertaining to operational rations (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, sec 3 & annex F). These
standards include a daily minimum of 3200 kcalories with 35 40% coming from fat and
at least 10% from protein, adequate vitamin/mineral content as dictated by the US Food
and Nutrition Board, a minimum shelf life of two years, and must contain items that can be eaten without heating, mixing, or adding water. The requirements also state that the
field ration should contain instant beverage mix, a bread equivalent (e.g. crackers,
tortillas, etc.), and some sort of spread for the bread equivalent such as jelly or peanut butter.
66 It is required that member countries also provide an alternative to the standard operational ration that is suitable for vegetarian dietary practices and religious requirements such as Halal or Kosher. The requirements for the alternative meal pack is the same as the standard combat ration except that the minimum necessary shelf life is one year. NATO has also laid out requirements for member countries regarding emergency and survival rations. The emergency ration requirements include a minimum of 1000 kcalories per meal (40 70% from carbohydrate, 20 40% from fat, and 10 20% from protein), have a minimum shelf life of two years, and must consist of items that do not require cooking, heating, or added water. The survival ration must provide a minimum of 150g of carbohydrate per day for a maximum of six days with no added fat or protein and have a minimum shelf life of four years.
3.3.7 Types of Operational Rations
Individual Meal Pack (IMP) (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, sec 3 & annex F): The
Individual Meal Pack (Appendix E, Image 2 & 3) is the most common type of Canadian
combat ration. It is essentially a full regular meal that is used as an alternative to freshly prepared foods and so three IMPs provide the required nourishment for one individual per day. Because it is expressly designed to replace freshly prepared meals it must be
easy to heat but also safe to eat without heating. It must also be easily transportable and
able to withstand the rigors of transport. The longest period of time that a soldier is
expected to subsist on IMPs is thirty consecutive days after which time they no longer provide adequate nutrition (e.g. deficient in calcium and folic acid). The shelf life of an
IMP is three years from the time it is packaged and it requires no refrigeration. Frequent
67 changes in temperature can potentially shorten an IMP’s shelf life. As an example, Sgt
John Miller recounted his experience with IMPs in Afghanistan wherein they were kept on trucks so that they were exposed to the elements. Being out in the open meant they were allowed to fluctuate in temperature from around freezing at night to almost fifty degrees centigrade during the hottest point in the day. The temperature changes caused the IMPs to spoil quickly and thus became unusable.
Alternative Meal Packs (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, sec 3 & annex F): The
Alternative Meal Pack is similar to the IMP except it is expressly designed for personnel
who maintain a vegetarian diet or those who have religious dietary requirements or proscriptions. Identical to IMPs, one meal day consists of three meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
and Dinner. The vegetarian ration is both Halal and Kosher certified and thus a single
type of Alternative Meal Pack can be used for a variety of special diets. It is also not
unheard of for personnel without any special dietary restrictions to acquire one of these
alternative rations if possible simply to add variety to his diet.
Emergency Ration/Light Meal Combat (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, sec 3 &
annex F): The second type of CF combat ration is the Emergency Ration/Light Meal
Combat (LMC) (Appendix E, Image 4), otherwise known as the emergency ration or
“recce ration”, and it was developed for use as either an emergency ration or to
supplement IMPs when other options are unavailable. It consists of familiar, ready to eat
items such as beef jerky, boiled candies, granola bars, dried fruit, drink powders, and so
forth. For the LMC the emphasis is on ease of preparation and consumption.
Survival Food Packets (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, sec 3 & annex F): A third type
of CF combat ration is known as the survival food packets. This ration is designed to
68 keep people alive when in a situation where they have limited drinking water and are not expending much energy. If the Survival Food Packets are the only source of food they should not be eaten for more than six consecutive days. Survival Food Packets are made up of smaller packs of food: the Basic Survival Food Packet (also known as the survival ration), Survival Rations for Life Rafts, the Supplementary Beverage Survival Food
Packet, and Emergency Drinking Water. The Basic Survival Food Packet contains enough provisions to last up to two full days and is comprised of starched jelly candies.
Ration Supplements (DND/CF 2009: chap 2, sec 3 & annex F): There are also several packs that are available to supplement the other combat rations under special conditions. The Arctic Supplement is designed to provide extra nutrients and fluids to help military personnel cope with cold weather conditions. The Tropical Supplement is designed to provide extra fluids for military personnel who are operating within hot and humid weather conditions. Lastly, the High Protein Supplement is designed to supplement the diet of personnel who are consistently subsisting on operational rations.
3.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, I have focused on the formal roles and practices of Food Services personnel. I have provided background information regarding soldier cooks and military
food and presented results of my project. Topics of discussion include basic elements
such as equipment, sanitation and hygiene, and dress. I also separate military feeding into
two types: static and dynamic. The former includes permanent feeding locations called
mess halls while the latter includes transient feeding situations such as field kitchens and
operational rations. In the following chapter, I discuss important concepts used by soldier
69 cooks that constitute their experience and the informal roles and practices I learned about during my fieldwork at CFB Wainwright. By examining these facets of the soldier cook role one can begin to understand the elements of their experience and see the larger context of feeding the individuals who protect nations.
70 Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Pan and into the Firefight
This chapter is divided into two main sections. The first section conveys the life of soldier cooks as they experience it: coping with boredom, bartering in the field, emic concepts, time spent “in the shit”, and so on. My intention is to delve a little deeper than the formal aspects of military cookery and illuminate the ‘backstage’ (Goffman 1959) areas of life in Food Services. In the second section I explore the effect that food has on morale. An army marches on its stomach but, as I will discuss below, food does not merely fill the stomach it also has a number of psychological effects unrelated to caloric intake. To explore this subject I draw on the anthropology of the senses, a nascent subfield that makes the physical senses a prominent aspect of analyses. The majority of ethnographic data in this chapter stems directly from the data I collected from military cooks regarding their experiences. The cooks I interviewed came from different backgrounds, held different ranks, and were at different points in their careers. Some of the participants had not been to the field since their MOC training, others had recently returned from tours in Afghanistan, and others still were veterans of various conflicts who are currently employed in static kitchens.
4.1 The Soldier Cook Experience
4.1.1 Soldiers First
The term ‘soldier’ has a general meaning. It can apply to individuals with vastly different roles, skill sets, and training ranging from infanteers to military police to electronic optronic technicians. The division of labour involved in the armed forces is
71 predicated on everyone filling a specialized role. However, the soldier’s primary job is being a soldier. In fact, there was a very common phrase referring to this idea that I heard repeated numerous times during my fieldwork: “a soldier first and a cook second”. My participants explained that it refers to the priority placed on the warfighting aspects of the job: knowing military rank structure and protocol, being skilled in firing and maintaining a service rifle, being able to march properly, and things of that nature. As I explain below, soldier cooks consider their food preparation related duties, albeit extremely important to operational effectiveness, to be secondary to their ability to think and act in a soldierly manner.
Being a soldier first and a cook second does not mean that individuals can occupy one role at a time but instead that when a choice must be made as to which role individuals should occupy the default selection is the soldier role. Frequently, individuals perform the two roles simultaneously without one affecting the other. That is, the role are
typically not mutually exclusive. However, occasions arise where a soldier cook must
give up his culinary duties and act solely as a warfighter. One of my participants, Sgt.
Elridge, recounted how he had been deployed to Afghanistan as a cook in 2002 but was
still sent out on a “search and destroy mission” because it made the most tactical sense
considering the conditions and available resources at the time. Typically though, military
cooks are the last group to be sent out to defend an attack and are often a last resort. The phrase “soldier first cook second” provides a simple schema to follow when pressed to
make quick decisions in chaotic situations, to make sense of an order, or to prioritize
one’s actions.
72 4.1.2 Complaints and Praise
Ideas about food vary between diners (more on this in section 4.2). These ideas regarding proper food characteristics often lead people to communicate to the food preparer their impressions of how well the food they ate matches up with their preconceived notions. In a manner of speaking, people are interested in synchronizing their beliefs regarding a food item’s correct form and to negotiate these expectations with the person preparing the food. These impressions can be placed into two categories: positive and negative. For my purposes here, expressing positive impressions refer to
‘praising’ while expressing negative impressions refer to ‘complaining’. It is conceivable that some speakers intend their expressions to be neutral, i.e. neither positive or negative, but in effect cooks seem to always assign these comments a value. I will now examine praise and complaint as they relate to military food services.
Praise
As I stated above, praise is the act of expressing positive impressions to an individual. The act of praising can be brought about for numerous reasons and it can have a variety of effects. There are countless examples such as praise for making a funny joke or catching an error that others missed. For my purposes here, I will distinguish two types of praise: internal praise and external praise. The internal type is praise given to members of a group by other members of the same group. The external type is praise given to members of a group by non group members. As I will show, the intentions and effects of each type can be quite different.
73 With regard to internal praise, what is designated as praiseworthy tends to depend on the values and expectations of the group. In the context of military food services, internal praise is that which is given to a cook by his peers or superiors while external praise is mainly that which is given by diners. The intention of internal praise seemed to be to foster norms deemed desirable by the group. That is, it appeared the ‘praiser’ wanted to encourage the ‘praisee’ to continue to behave in the way for which the praise was given. For example, the mixing arm of one of the large boilers (a large pot heated with steam to help prevent food from being burnt by excessive direct heat) had ceased working one afternoon. Pte James Davis, who was trying to make mashed potatoes in the boiler, called over to MCpl Boyer, asking him if he knew what was wrong. Boyer walked over, opened the panel of the control box, and began examining the cluster of wires and circuit boards. He traced the path of the afflicted wire to the problem, quickly pulled out his multi tool from a holster on his belt, and after a few twists of his pliers the mechanized arm was working again. His success elicited a small round of cheers from the individuals who had gathered around to see what was going on and a fair number of positive comments for the rest of the afternoon. Remarks such as, “It’s good to have you around!” or, “I guess we know who to talk to when shit breaks around here!” expressed that the ability to improvise and solve problems was highly valued within the group. In my own experience, receiving praise from within the group I was studying helped me to feel as though I was accepted by the group and that my efforts were valued by the group members.
In terms of external praise, what is considered praiseworthy can be based on values not held by the group being praised. That is not to say however that external praise
74 will always be dependent on values that are not held by the group. Sometimes two different groups hold the same values, particularly social groups that are linked under a broader social group category as are the specialized military occupations, and sometimes members of one group hold different values from other members of the same group. For instance, a diner who likes his food to be spicy may praise a cook for the increased spice when, due to the need to provide dishes that are appealing to a wide array of diners, the cook may feel as though he made the food too spicy. The values of the cook, in this case, may be at odds with the praise he is receiving but he is complimented nonetheless.
I experienced the effect of praise first hand while participating in the activities of military cooks. One Thursday, towards the end of meal service, I was working on the steam line along with Pte Reiben and Cpl Danton distributing food to diners when a
Captain walked up and addressed the three of us. He thanked us for our timely service and for the quality of the food saying that he and the soldiers under his purview all really appreciated our work. The two individuals I was standing with were elated and thanked the Captain for his kind words, after which the officer turned and walked away. Pte
Reiben said, “That is the kind of stuff that makes you feel good at this job.” Cpl Danton told me later that evening that he really appreciates when the diners do this and that it makes him want to try that much harder to provide good food. The look of pride on their faces was unmistakable.
Complaints
As I stated above, complaining is the act of expressing negative impressions to an individual. Complaining is an activity with which soldiers are intimately familiar (Irwin
75 2002). Based on my experience, bemoaning food is a special class of soldierly complaint.
I myself complained incessantly about the IMPs I consumed for eighteen days. I longed for the day I could return to my normal diet. Groaning about military food has probably been around as long as specialized military food has existed. In the eighteenth century, an old corporal in Napoleon’s Grand Armée is quoted as saying, “give those jerks roast angels, and they’d still complain” (Elting 1988:579). While in the field, the most common dissatisfaction I heard revolved around the categories of food that a soldier was allowed to order while moving through the steam line. Soldiers often wanted several entrées and this was not allowed due to those soldiers further back in line or those that arrived later missing out on the more desirable entrées. It was my responsibility, while serving soldiers on the steam line, to inform them of the acceptable combinations of food items. Many soldiers just accepted the state of affairs while others proffered complaints and attempted to have me circumvent the rules. Informing them that they could come back for seconds or thirds did little to curtail their dissatisfaction. One francophone corporal, after hearing about the limitations of food combinations, shot a French GD a puzzled look and the GD responded with “cuisinières” and a shrug of his shoulders.
In her doctoral dissertation, Irwin (2002:121) argues that soldierly complaining operates, in part, as a method for constituting “expected relationships within the battalions”. Like praise, it appears that complaining also operates as a method of synchronizing expectations and allows individuals to negotiate what is deemed desirable at the group level. In addition to a synchronizing effect, complaining or withholding complaint, is also an important aspect of presentational deference (Goffman 1956). When surrounded by soldiers of a similar rank individuals freely express their impressions,
76 positive or negative, about a wide variety of topics: food, working hours, other individuals, etc. However, impressions are typically not expressed in a cavalier manner during interactions with superiors. Deference to a superior’s impression of the situation is maintained by withholding unsolicited impressions. One of my participants, MCpl
Towne, stated it succinctly: “you bitch to your buddies, you don’t just go bitching at your bosses”.
4.1.3 Negotiating the Liminal Phase of Mealtimes
I mentioned in the previous chapter that although mealtimes are relatively fixed there is a period of time at the end of the meal where negotiations may occur regarding the completion of the meal period. This liminal phase occurs when the meal is technically finished but a small number of individuals still arrive. Put another way, there is a period where the meal is defined as over by those serving it but conditions are insufficient to indicate this conclusively to the would be patrons. This phase places Food Services personnel in between the role of ‘food preparer’ and the role of ‘food server’. How this liminal phase is handled mostly depends on who is occupying the Shift I/C role. Different cooks interpret rules and conventions in different ways and the idiosyncratic understandings lead to interactions that fall outside formalized normative frameworks.
Pre-Mealtime and Post-Mealtime
Immediately prior to and following a meal there are a number of rituals, interactions, and negotiations that are unique to those times and that tend to reoccur on a regular, but not cyclical, basis. One instance is when one or more diners enter the mess at
77 the very end of the meal period; maybe within five minutes of either side of the hour, although there is no hard and fast rule. Rather, it is largely dependent on the agency of the individual Shift I/C who may have a greater or lesser threshold for lateness. MCpl
Towne simply sent the latecomers away while admonishing them to arrive on time whereas MCpl Browne appeared to assume a more understanding disposition and provided the individuals with a number of options.
When potential diners arrive during the liminal period a negotiation process can sometimes occur. In these cases the latecomer attempts to persuade or, in some rare cases, coerce the Shift I/C through the presentation of culturally salient expressions. If the
Shift I/C reads the impressions as valid reasons for coming late then often the I/C will acquiesce and allow them to go through the normal motions of retrieving food or make concessions so they can at least get something in their stomachs. One day, several personnel showed up about five minutes after dinner service had ended and the Shift I/C was prepared to send them away. The latecomers explained that their plane had just landed which MCpl Horvath took as an acceptable reason and he proceeded to dig up some food. Another time, two officers arrived for Breakfast just as the CMK staff was finishing up their meal. They explained that their exercise ran late, to which MCpl
Browne replied “okay, but you’ll have to make due with cold cereal because the steam table is closed”. Although visibly disappointed the two officers accepted the offer and retrieved their cereal. Sometimes the reasons are not considered valid and other times the expressions of the latecomers do not indicate remorse or even a realization that norms were breached. When this is the case, the Shift I/C, who is essentially a gatekeeper to the
78 serving and dining areas after the Duty NCO has left, will often reject the negotiations entirely and ask the latecomers simply to leave.
Brunch
Brunch is an unusual case. It is the only mealtime which varies throughout the year and week. Brunch is only served on the weekends and if the feeding commitment is high brunch can become a burden on already strained resources and is done away with entirely for a period of time. Frequently, would be diners show up for brunch only to find that brunch is not being served. When I asked why this happens so often I was told it was due to “not reading their ROs [routine orders]”. It is in this document, a periodic newsletter of sorts containing pertinent information such as safety bulletins or rule changes, that the decision to offer or not offer brunch is relayed to all potential diners.
Not reading the ROs constitutes a breach of norms and as such the guilty party or parties receive virtually no sympathy and are sometimes verbally chastised. These individuals are turned away for if they had fulfilled the responsibilities of their role they would have known about the prescribed mealtimes.
4.1.4 ‘Going Home’ versus ‘Finishing Work’
The terms used by military cooks in some situations presuppose knowledge of their status or situation. There is a lot of variation in terms of an individual’s work situation. Not every soldier cook is from the same base or has the same work hours. Some of the variation derives from the fact that many of the soldiers are on base temporarily and thus their permanent residence is in a location that is far removed from their place of
79 work. This situation leads to interactions that are different from if all group members lived in the same locality. One area of social life in which this is reflected is conversation.
There is a difference between going home and finishing work. Individuals stationed somewhat permanently at the base will speak about finishing work in terms of ‘going home’. For soldiers who are working in a location far away from home finishing work means just that, they are free to go where they want and do what they choose but the distance precludes them from going home. An individual from the latter group would never ask a fellow group member, “So, when are you going home?”. Rather, they would ask, “So, when are you finished?”.
The difference between the two work situations was not readily apparent to me until I made the mistake of asking Pte. James Davis when he was going home. He looked at me as if I had just insulted him and woefully replied, “not for a long time”. It dawned on me what he was saying and I quickly apologized and backtracked, asking him, “When are you finished work?”. Pte Davis’ reaction indicates a difference in the way he thought about the workday compared to a soldier with a more permanent placement. When I asked the same question to more permanent service members they often responded with excitement that they were off soon or begrudgingly that they had just started their shift and that they would not be going home for a while. The difference in disposition was striking and revealed an element of the job that I had not previously noticed.
4.1.5 Improvisation
One of the goals of military training is to learn and practice techniques or strategies to cope with what is expected to occur on the battlefield (Irwin 2005).
80 However, seemingly at odds with the programmatic behaviours of training through repetition, is the expectation that soldiers will also be able to adapt to unforeseen or dynamic situations by improvising their behaviour or equipment on the spot. Adaptability is a crucial ability for soldiers to have, particularly when they are isolated from the larger military system (e.g. at a forward operating base). The military has a series of social structures that have developed over time but service members must also maintain a certain level of agency to be able to think on their feet. One of the primary differences between static cooking and field cooking is the sophistication of the facilities, equipment, and ingredients as well as their availability to a soldier cook. The simplified kitchen and dining area setup necessitates numerous improvised cooking techniques and equipment if the soldier cook is to prepare meals that bear a resemblance to those that soldiers consume while in more familiar and comfortable circumstances.
Improvised Techniques
While cooking in the field, soldier cooks do not have the same expansive pantry that is available to static cooks. They must improvise techniques to replicate some of the same food characteristics that come easily to a mess cook. For instance, access to fresh dairy products is limited due to the overall lack of resources such as refrigerated space and the long distances over which the items must be transported. Due to the relative lack of fresh dairy products soldier cooks turn to preserved dairy products such as evaporated milk. I witnessed an example of this while touring the field kitchens in the training area. I was watching a cook prepare cream of tomato soup when he asked me “how do you make cream of tomato soup when you have no cream?” The answer was a combination of
81 evaporated milk and finely minced onions that were sautéed in fat until they were caramelized. The evaporated milk added the dairy quality while the onions added body and richness to the soup. Evaporated milk has factored prominently in military field manuals since the American Civil War (US War Department 1910; 1916; 1941).
Improvised techniques like those described in this section, while sometimes written in cooks’ field manuals, are generally discovered through training with veteran cooks or directly through experience. Successful techniques are remembered and transmitted to future cooks while unsuccessful or unpopular techniques, often determined through praise and complaint, are quickly forgotten
Improvised Equipment
Sometimes the simple kitchen equipment on the MKT is inadequate for a soldier cook’s needs or is simply not functioning. In these situations they must be able to adapt.
That can mean improvising new equipment or making do with the available equipment.
An example of the former occurred to Sgt Joe Enders in Afghanistan when he was tasked with feeding many more troops than was possible with the standard MKT equipment. The shortage was exacerbated when some of the equipment malfunctioned and Sgt Enders was forced to improvise some equipment to handle the volume of hungry soldiers. To do this he located a metal gate and removed it from the fence to which it was attached. He lined up three burners from the MKT, laid the gate horizontally across the burners, and kept large pots of water boiling where diners could heat up their IMPs. For an example of making do with existing equipment recall MCpl Boyer’s impromptu repair to the boilers presented above to illustrate praise.
82 Improvised Recipes
Soldier cooks do not learn every recipe in their repertoire during training or from reading the official CF recipe collection. They learn some of the dishes through experience and time ‘in the shit’, or simply from the necessity of producing desirable foods from limited options. The latter fosters the creation of new concoctions which other individuals may or may not adopted when in similar positions.
Perhaps an example would serve to illustrate the concept. One hot, summer afternoon, I was sitting out in the smoking area answering emails on my mobile phone when Sgt. Owen Elridge sat down beside me and lit a cigarette. We struck up a conversation which eventually led to me asking about what it is like to cook in a field kitchen. The topic of maintaining morale in the field came up and Sgt. Elridge mentioned
“field doughnuts” which I had never heard of. He told me that a lot of the more senior cooks would have most likely heard of them and many would have employed such a dish to help boost morale. I did ask several other military cooks and discovered that many of the more experienced members had indeed heard of them. There appeared to be regional variation in that at least one individual from Quebec knew of something virtually identical but referred to as “jambusters”. You will find the recipe listed below. While reviewing the literature on military food after my return I discovered that the beginnings of the “field doughnut” reach far back in time, at least to the trenches of WWI:
[A] candle fire burns low and clean and we are able to fry bacon and warm beans and coffee even in the very front line positions. One of the stunts was to fry a piece of bread in the bacon grease and then sugar it. Sounds funny but I swear I never ate any thing that I enjoyed more than our ‘trench doughnuts.’ (Cpl Fred W. Hill quoted in Cowing 1919:152)
83 Field Doughnuts/Jambusters
Ingredients
• Cinnamon Raisin bread • Jam • Pancake Batter (slightly thickened) • Oil (for frying) • Sugar • Cinnamon
Directions
1. Take a slice of cinnamon raisin bread and cut into triangles. 2. Spread a layer of jam on top of a triangle of bread. 3. Place another triangle of bread on top and gently press down. 4. Make a pancake batter (any recipe will do) but reduce the amount of liquid ingredients or increase the amount of dry ingredients to make it slightly thicker than a regular pancake batter. 5. Dip the jam centred bread into the batter to coat. 6. Fry in an inch or two of oil (or a deep fryer if available) on each side until golden brown. 7. While still hot, toss the field doughnut/jambuster in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon to coat. 8. Serve immediately.
4.1.6 Jokes, Pranks, and Ridicule
Joking relationships are relations “between two persons in which one is by custom permitted, and in some instances required, to tease or make fun of the other, who in turn is required to take no offence (Radcliffe Brown 1952:90).” During my fieldwork at CFB
Wainwright I witnessed numerous instances of jokes, ridicule, and even a few pranks amongst my participants. It quickly became apparent that these were not merely amusing hi jinx but also incorporated an informal system of social control with the added benefit of providing entertainment and coping with boredom. They also seem to help foster group ties, contribute to exploring the boundaries of expected group behaviour, and perhaps even act as a method for building confidence in one’s knowledge so that the
84 ideas become reified. It does not appear that there was an emic distinction between instrumental joking and joking for entertainment rather the types of joking seem to occur simultaneously in different combinations and configurations.
On some occasions, individuals would pull pranks on one another, make jokes, or ridicule each other. Oftentimes, the pranks, jokes, and ridicule seemed to be intended towards reinforcing normative frameworks. These actions can be split into two categories according to Radcliffe Brown’s distinction (1952): symmetrical and asymmetrical.
Symmetrical joking relationships are where both parties partake in the ridicule while asymmetrical joking relationships involve joking that is either unilateral or highly one sided. In the context of the military, symmetrical joking relationships tend to be those between individuals of similar rank while the asymmetrical variety tends to occur between individuals of widely different ranks. Regarding the latter, the joker is the higher ranking member while the subject of the joke is the lower ranking member. Radcliffe
Brown’s analysis of joking relationships dealt specifically with formalized joking relationships but the ones that I am describing are not. However, much of the interaction between higher and lower ranking service members is highly formalized and the joking behaviour I observed appeared to be quite rigid. Thus, I feel that Radcliffe Brown’s analysis can be used to, at least partially, illuminate my data.
As a form of social sanction, many of the jokes, ridicule, and pranks were quite potent. It was considered undesirable to be the subject of this type of joke and individuals actively avoided it. Being the subject of the joke was cause for embarrassment and even feelings of inadequacy. The jokes intended as informal social sanction were either symmetrical or asymmetrical depending on who witnessed the infraction. Symmetrical
85 joking of this type occurred between individuals of similar, although not necessarily equal, rank and appeared to be more desirable than the asymmetrical joking which occurred between high and low ranking individuals. An example of the former happened when Pte Frantz broke several plates while serving on the steam line. His compatriots who had witnessed the infraction jokingly convinced Frantz that the cost for the broken dishware would be recouped from his paycheck. Pte Frantz rejected this notion at first but eventually began to believe this to be the case until he asked another individual, Cpl
Danton, if it was true. Danton guffawed at the idea but even more so that Frantz had fallen for it and proceeded to let him know that his pay was safe. An example of the latter occurred early on in my fieldwork when MCpl Eden left the computer on his work station unlocked. This breach of security measures although not immediately dangerous was against the norm and thus was met with a joking social sanction from WO Bienstock. The informal sanction was an email sent from Eden’s account to Sgt Elridge professing his love for him. In this situation, a formal sanction was deemed too great for such a small infraction in that an official sanction can affect status progression and future career opportunities. Conversely, a lack of sanction does not encourage maintained security, thus a compromise was an embarrassing email.
Individuals often used pranks as a diversion to cope with boredom or purely for entertainment and to improve the overall sense of morale around the kitchen. Not everyone, however, enjoyed these pranks and sometimes they escalated too quickly and actually created an awkward atmosphere. In one situation, MCpl Mike Horvath had been leaving his beverage unattended which caught the attention of Pte Adam Frantz and Pte
Richard Reiben. The two privates secured several compressed cloth tablets, literally
86 kitchen cloths that were pressed into tablets roughly the size of a bottle cap that expanded to full size when immersed in water, and dropped them in MCpl Horvath’s glass. The cloth tablets quickly absorbed the liquid and expanded until they began to spill over the side of the glass. The privates attempted to go about their normal business but were suppressing snickers all the while. Upon finding the sabotaged cola MCpl Horvath became enraged and began yelling that he was “sick of this shit!” before he stormed off.
The interesting aspect of the event described above is that the beverage cost him nothing and it required almost no effort to acquire a new one. I wanted to ask him about the event but based on his reaction and subsequent demeanor I felt that I best not risk damaging the rapport I had developed. Perhaps the reaction was due to the disparity in rank between those carrying out the prank and the target. The higher ranking member may have took the prank to be an attack on his authority or, if practical jokes such as these are indeed a method of reinforcing social norms, a symbolized action implying that he did not possess a proper degree of social knowledge. It should be noted however that negative reactions were the exception, typically all participants enjoyed the pranks, and they generally seemed to have a positive effect on morale.
I personally experienced a small degree of ridicule when I made the transition from civilian dress to a cooks’ uniform. When I first began my observations within the
CMK I dressed in the clothing I would regularly wear during the work week. After a short period of time I donned the cooks’ uniform typically referred to as ‘whites’. At first, the change in garb garnered mild shock followed by significant amusement. At first I assumed that it was simply due to the fact that I was wearing the dress of a role other than the one they knew me in, a researcher. That is, I was assuming the trappings of a role that
87 I did not occupy and this was humorous. This initial amusement quickly turned to a desire to teach me the proper way of presenting myself in the social context I was in.
Basically, avoiding ridicule acted to ensure I dressed myself in an appropriate manner.
4.1.7 Coping with Boredom
Jokes, Pranks, and Ridicule
There were occasions where it seemed that jokes, pranks, and ridicule were methods for social control or to reinforce security related procedures. At other times it appeared to me that individuals participated in jokes, ridicule, or practical jokes for no other purpose than the intrinsic enjoyment of the joke or to facilitate the passage of time during a particularly tedious day. Perhaps because of a lack of potential diners or an overabundance of labour (both of which I had observed during my fieldwork).
Sometimes these activities were as simple as feigning strikes to the groin. Further ridicule occurred if the receiver of the fake groin strikes would flinch or attempt to avoid the strike that was never intended to land.
Card games
One of the ways in which food services personnel cope with boredom is by engaging in card games with one another. Military personnel playing card games has been examined in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) (Feige & Ben Ari 1991) although this examination involved card games where individuals gambled money. While some soldiers participated in poker games or tournaments that involved gambling during non work times they did not gamble on card games while playing them on break during work
88 hours. Feige and Ben Ari argue, along the lines of Smith and Abt (1984), that the IDF card games functioned as relief from dull, repetitive, or tedious tasks. This relief was certainly true for myself in that the frequent Euchre games helped me to deal with some of the inherent boredom that can accompany fieldwork. They also argue that the games act as “an alternative, or ‘substitute’ status order alongside the formal military one: in place of a status order based on rank, motivation, ‘good’ behavior, and military skill”
(Feige & Ben Ari 1991:440) and instead based on the individual’s playing skills. This alternate status system did seem to exist among my participants in the sense that some personnel attained status as “good card players”. What seemed to be a more important status however was the simple ability to play euchre (i.e. know the rules, have a basic understanding of winning strategies, and be able to coordinate with your partner without direct communication) so that the requisite four players could be found to play a game or two and help pass the time a little quicker and provide an element of fun.
Other than coping with boredom, card games were also representative of group membership and provided a visual representation it. One way in which card games acted as a membership symbol was by showing who were acquainted enough to engage in this semi intimate practice. Semi intimate in the sense that participants were required to be in relatively close proximity to each other and had to abide by mutually constituted rules. I do not want to stress this idea too much since often a fourth individual was necessary to play the full version of a particularly popular game called Euchre. A second way in which card games demonstrated group membership was in the type of game that was being played. The military personnel, although not exclusively, favoured Euchre, a trick taking card game with four players split into teams of two, while many of the civilian staff
89 favoured Golf, a card game where individuals collect and discard cards with the goal of maintaining the lowest possible score. The symbolic nature of participation in one of the two card games was not lost on my participants with one, Cpl Sam Livermore, even going so far as calling Golf “the fos 2 sport”. Having said all this it should be noted that some personnel, John Stryker for instance, simply watched the games while others, such as Pte Beacham, did not participate in card games of any sort.
Gambling
An extremely common method of alleviating the boredom of a tedious work day was to gamble or discuss what one would do should one make a significant amount of money through gambling activities such as lotteries, raffles, or games of chance. One of the civilian staff, Charlotte Corday, organized a weekly 50/50 draw, a raffle where the person with the winning ticket gets half of the collected funds with the other half going towards something else which in this case is a fund for events or gifts for sick personnel.
She would also frequently organize a lottery pool where a number of individuals contribute money which is used to buy one or more lottery tickets with the winnings either split evenly amongst the participants (large winnings) or reinvested in more tickets
(small winnings). I did not witness any gambling when it came to card games while on shift but the messes sometimes hosted poker nights or meat raffles. These gambling practices (i.e. raffles, lotteries, gaming, etc.) seemed to maintain or improve morale and fostered a sense of camaraderie and provided a common topic of conversation which helped to alleviate boredom.
90 Smoking
One of the ways in which personnel coped with boredom was by consuming tobacco, most often smoking cigarettes although I did meet a few individuals who chewed tobacco or smoked cigars. I would doubt that many, if any, individuals began smoking explicitly to cope with boredom but for those that did smoke it became one of the coping methods. The incidence of smoking tobacco seemed to increase on a particularly slow work day. Smoke breaks lasted longer, were more frequent, involved more chatting, and were often combined with one of the other three methods of coping with boredom described above, particularly card games. This was particularly true if the
Shift I/C smoked since he was typically the one who was responsible for ending smoke breaks that dragged on a little long and was more sympathetic to the practice than a non smoking Shift I/C.
4.1.8 Spheres of Exchange
A large part of military food services’ role is to exchange food for something else.
Typically it involves the exchange of money and labour based on the contract soldiers sign when they join or the money soldiers pay for access to the mess halls but there are also less formal avenues of trade and negotiation open to soldiers. These informal trading networks seem to develop around a limited number of desirable goods and services such as alcohol. The informal exchanges were important in that they allowed the traders to make themselves more comfortable which potentially has a significant effect on morale.
Obviously, there are possible downsides such as individuals imbibing too many spirits.
91 The ambiguous nature of this practice makes it difficult to discern whether stopping the informal exchanges would provide a positive or negative net outcome.
One day, as MCpl Boyer was explaining to me how informal exchange worked amongst the CF in Afghanistan it dawned on me that it fit quite well with the concept of
‘spheres of exchange’. Bohannan (1955:61 62) describes spheres of exchange among the
Tiv of Nigeria thusly: “… in Tiv ideology it is neither usual nor desirable to exchange a commodity for just any other commodity. Rather, there are several different categories of interchangeable commodities and items, each of which is felt to be more or less exclusive.” Bohannan and Dalton (1962) go into further detail and Sillitoe (2006) sums up their discussion nicely:
What are spheres of exchange? They are an arrangement where material objects are assigned to different spheres for transactional purposes. People freely exchange items within the same sphere and readily calculate their comparative values. But things in different spheres are not immediately exchangeable against one another, such that between spheres there is no ready conversion.
Spheres of exchange, as a concept, seems to be quite applicable as an heuristic device for
the data I collected during my fieldwork at CFB Wainwright.
With regard to Food Services, there are two categories of goods and services that are not interchangeable. The formal and explicit sphere is that of ‘entitlement’, literally the category of things that soldiers with uncompromised statuses are entitled to have, and
‘luxury goods’, highly desirable items that are not directly provided through the military food service system. The ‘entitled goods and services’ are those that a soldier can expect to receive just by paying the required amount and performing his agreed upon duties.
There are situations where soldiers can lose some of these entitlements such as when they are subject to corrective training for an infraction. ‘Entitled foods’ are typically staple
92 foods although they can also include items like carbonated beverages, potato chips, or confections if available. These staple foods are typically items such as starches (pastas, bread, rice, etc.), vegetables, fruits, fresh meat (as opposed to preserved meats like pepperoni sticks or cold cuts), and operational rations (IMPs, etc.). ‘Luxury items’ are those that are highly desirable and yet are not readily available. These items included processed snack foods like potato chips or chocolate bars, hard liquor (wine and beer
took up too much space for the amount of alcohol they contained), and cigarettes.
‘Luxury items’ could also be said to include favours. Favours were desirable services
which fell outside the purview of the formal system of labour and exchange. Examples
include equipment repairs, construction, and other such activities. Specific instances
discussed in interviews were a truck repair which was taking too long to arrange through
formal channels and the construction of a gang plank from an MKT to a refrigerated
truck.
A soldier cook would not offer staple foods in exchange for favours or other
luxury goods. I argue here that, in a similar fashion to Bohannan, this is because these
foods fall in the realm of subsistence goods or emically as ‘entitled goods’. That is, foods
like the ones I have described are considered part of the agreement between the
individual soldier and the military institution whereby the service member exchanges his
labour, skills, etc. for pay and other benefits. It is junk foods or intoxicants that become
the highly valued luxury item. It varies depending on the context but items such as potato
chips, soda pop, and spirits are simply held in a different category from the savoury foods
that soldiers typically receive for their daily rations. MCpl Boyer related an exchange
event that he was involved with in Afghanistan involving the exchange of a favour for
93 luxury items. A field kitchen was set up in such a way that a cook had to walk down and up stairs to move between MKTs and refrigerated trucks sometimes with heavy, unwieldy, or high temperature loads. MCpl Boyer was able to get a unit of engineers to construct a gangplank between the different components of the field kitchen to reduce or eliminate the need to navigate stairs. In exchange he “hooked them up with some goodies” including ice cream sandwiches, chips, and chocolate bars. When I asked what type of items are normally involved in such exchanges he told me that “you would never offer them [i.e. the person doing you a favour or trading luxury goods] carrot sticks or pasta; always treats.”
Context is instrumental in determining which spheres are operational at which times. While in a situation where static kitchen facilities are readily available and well stocked there is almost no need for an informal system of exchange since markets selling all manners of luxury items are easily accessible. Convenience stores, the Cannex, care packages, grocery stores, department stores, shopping malls, liquor stores, and so forth can all be available options on a domestic military base. A major exception to this premise is when a soldier is on exercise in a training area. Training exercises are intended to be as realistic as possible so as to mimic conditions found in the conflict or area that is the ultimate goal of the exercise. This situation means that luxury items that were not brought into the field by individuals are simply not available. In addition, exercises are frequently “dry” in that alcohol is not only unavailable for purchase but is prohibited.
Thus, the more informal spheres of exchange come into effect since luxury items are in scarce supply.
94 Regarding spheres of exchange, exercises differ from actual combat environments in that soldiers conducting exercises may have ties to soldiers who are not participating in the exercise and thus have access to some combination of the markets discussed above.
Thus, trade can occur or favours given among soldiers participating in an exercise and those not participating in an exercise. For example, Cpl Kovic was working in a static kitchen while the rest of his unit was in the field participating in an exercise. He therefore had access to the markets in town or on base and was able to purchase some luxury items for some of his group. These items included alcohol, cigarettes, and potato chips. This was not required of him and, in fact, he may have been punished if discovered by certain individuals. There was even one member of his group that he refused to supply with luxury goods because he had “disrespected him”.
The two spheres of exchange in the CF are mutually exclusive but in a different way from the spheres Bohannan (1955), Bohannan & Dalton (1962), and Sillitoe (2006) describe. Luxury items can be obtained in the normal course of acquiring goods in that labour or money is exchanged for entitlement to goods therefore rendering the separation of spheres moot. The spheres emerge once the traders leave the confines of the formal system of exchange. So, for example, there are times when soldiers simply show up to the serving/dining area and are able to pick up, say, an ice cream sandwich. Goods are separated into tradeable or non tradeable categories in particular instances, such as when a soldier cook wants to trade for a pack of cigarettes or to have a group of engineers create a structure for the cooks’ use. Thus, a cook might be able to exchange ice cream sandwiches for the construction of a gangplank but he could not trade carrot sticks or
95 pasta. Staple foods that are expected to be available are not luxury items just as luxury items are not staple foods.
4.2 Food, Morale, and the Senses
Throughout this text I have alluded to the potential effect food and cooking has on morale. This idea is ubiquitous in the literature on military food (e.g., Dickson 1978;
Weeks 2009; Fisher & Fisher 2011) and is often supported with Napoleon’s oft repeated phrase “an army marches on its stomach”. While it is obvious that food is important to the success of military operations, authors rarely delve much deeper than this cursory sentence. What I would like to do here is go a little further into what morale is and some specific ways in which full stomachs facilitate marching and other soldierly activities. To do so I will bring to bear some of the concepts from the anthropology of the senses, a nascent subfield that focuses on involving the physical senses in ethnographic accounts.
4.2.1 Morale
Morale is a concept that has preoccupied military minds for some time. From
Xenophon (1843[N.D.]) to Sun Tzu (2002[N.D.]) to Clausewitz (1968[1832]) observers have recognized that weapons and fortifications are but one element in winning armed conflicts. Genghis Khan is credited with warning that “walls are no stronger than the men that defend them.” General Patton said in a lecture to soldiers at Fort Myer, "Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory" (1933). Over the years, observers have used
96 many different terms for this intangible quality: spirit, heart, soul, morale, esprit de corps , cohesion.
In the influential Handbook of Military Psychology (Gal & Mangelsforff 1991),
Manning contributes a chapter examining the terms morale, cohesion, and esprit de corps in a contemporary context. In Manning’s typology, esprit de corps and cohesion are two elements of morale. Cohesion refers to “the bonding together of soldiers in such a way as to sustain their will and commitment to each other, the unit, and mission accomplishment, despite combat or mission stress” (Manning 1991:457). Esprit de corps is:
a higher order concept, paralleling cohesion at the primary group level, implying above all pride in and devotion to the reputation of a formal organization beyond the primary group, and along with cohesion, necessary for sustained effective performance of soldiers in combat (1991:458).
Both of these concepts, Manning argues, are group level qualities although morale also incorporates individual qualities that neither cohesion nor esprit covers. The individual factors include biological factors (i.e. relatively “adequate food, sleep, and protection from the elements”) and psychological factors (i.e. “a goal, a role, and a reason for self confidence”) (1991:467). Generally speaking then, morale refers to “the enthusiasm and persistence with which a member of a group engages in prescribed activities of that group” (1991:455) with the above concepts being factors contributing to this enthusiasm and persistence. Regarding psychological factors, based on the data I collected at CFB
Wainwright, I would include the aspects described below.
4.2.2 Anthropology of the Senses
The anthropology of the senses refers to an epistemological approach that emphasizes the physical senses as an avenue for understanding social life (Stoller 1989,
97 1997; Classen 1997; Herzfeld 2001; Howes 2003). Classen (1997:405) describes the task of sensory ethnography:
“The sensory anthropologist attends to the role of odours, tastes and tactilities ― as to the role of sights and sounds ― not as evidence of evolutionary status, nor as picturesque detail such as may be found in a travel guide, but as essential clues to the ways by which a society fashions and embodies a meaningful world.”
It is the ‘meaningful world’ of soldier cooks and the role that food plays in it that I am interested in exploring. This sense based approach led me to notice the degree to which cooks were concerned with the emic sense categories that allow them to consistently produce foods that meet the expectations of others. Classen (1997:401) argues that
“…sensory perception is a cultural as well as physical act” and this certainly seems to be supported by the fact that there is a great deal to learn before a cook can produce foods that his diners find pleasing.
Food does not have a flavour until one tastes it nor does it have an odour until one smells it. Brillat Savarin (2007:16), a famous gastronome and food writer from the late
18 th and early 19 th century, wrote that taste “is the sense which puts us in touch with sapid bodies, by means of the sensations which they excite in the organ designed to appreciate them”. You must interact physically with a substance to know what it will taste like.
While engaging in the process of eating, an individual is conscious of many food characteristics. Food is known through the physical senses: one can taste flavours, smell aromas, experience textures and consistencies, feel temperatures, and see the shape and colour of the visible surfaces. One can read recipes or look at pictures but these are incomplete representations of the dish’s qualities. It is the manner in which the sensory characteristics interact that produces an individual’s physical experience of food (Lawless
2000). Food also has intangible attributes: we imagine its actual and potential physical
98 qualities, we attach memories to it (Holtzman 2006), and we have emotional reactions to it (Canetti, Bachar, & Berry 2002). It is elements such as these which act in tandem to produce their subjective experience as soldiers chow down in the mess hall or choke down cold rations in the rain.
Cooks actively cultivate particular sensory characteristics in the food they create and therefore they must classify and label them. The classification of characteristics leads to a rich lexicon of terminology. Prominent sense categories in a soldier cook’s emic terminology include taste categories (e.g. oregano, fruity, curry, burnt), smell categories
(e.g. banana, spoiled, fresh, off), texture categories (e.g. crispy, chewy, moist, tender), and visual categories (e.g. colour, burnt, mouldy, symmetrical). These categories are not mutually exclusive and many of them are a combination of different sense categories.
They should not be confused with physical categories such as the five taste sensations
(i.e. sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami ), although they may be parallel concepts in
some cases. These categories are made up of sensory data but they are not biologically
determined; rather, they are composed of a series of biological senses, the combination of
which are labelled and transmitted through discussion to constitute a culturally
determined category. For example, a fruit’s taste is composed of several taste sensations
such as sweet and sour combined with several olfactory sensations such as orange or banana although the physiological mechanism for this is not fully understood (Lawless
2000). Even the scent of an orange or banana is composed of multiple compounds that produce the sensation we refer to as banana or orange scent. For our purposes here, I will
consider the sum total of these sense categories and their associated cultural meanings
and values as what Classen (1997) calls ‘sensory models’.
99 4.2.3 The Senses and Military Food
How can the anthropology of the senses be applied to our understanding of military cooking? From the perspective of the cook, the physical senses are used to ensure or bring about particular desired characteristics in a raw foodstuff. Examples range from noting the colour change of cooking vegetables to determine their doneness to inspecting frozen foods for frost to assess freezer burn. Sometimes the physical senses are extended through the use of technologies such as thermometers which allow one to understand using vision, by seeing the thermometer’s reading, what would normally be accurately measured only through the sense of touch. Military cooks prepare food in large quantities yet must also maintain consistency in a number of variables in order to maximize the palatability of the food they serve so that it matches diners’ expectations.
The cultural knowledge that goes into the production of food is a rich source of ethnographic data which illustrates the intersection between culture and the senses.
A food characteristic that is particularly important to a cook is temperature. Cooks must master the effective use of temperature if they are to bring about the desired characteristics in a raw food and prevent those they feed from being afflicted with food borne illness. Increasing a food’s temperature to specific levels by applying direct or indirect heat in the form of ovens, fires, griddles, pots, and other cooking implements alters it’s taste, flavour, texture, moisture content, and so forth. The value of a hot, freshly cooked meal to the soldier under duress cannot be overstated. Many of my participants, including Sgt Elridge and MCpl Boyer, used the phrase “hot & lots” to describe what soldiers wanted out of their food. Conversely, developments in refrigeration technology has allowed military cooks to increase their use of fresh food and frosty treats like iced
100 cream and chilled beverages. The value of fresh foods to the mental and physical health of war fighters could be the difference between surviving a dangerous situation or not.
Cold foods can be particularly valuable to troops in hot climates such as Afghanistan where MCpl Boyer said he could not keep up with demand. Cooks cultivate specialized knowledge of the physical properties of foodstuffs and how to manipulate temperatures to attain a particular set of characteristics that are considered as valuable and desirable.
4.2.4 Military Food and Morale
Food is Morale
Morale is that thing Napoleon was referring to when he uttered his famous phrase,
“an army marches on its stomach”. While I did hear this phrase during my fieldwork there was a saying that I heard much more often: ‘food is morale’. All of the soldier cooks I interviewed acknowledged the effect their ability to make pleasing food has on morale but this idea was especially highlighted by Senior NCOs who were in charge of these broad considerations. Eating can be an inherently pleasurable experience and this could explain some of the effects food has on morale. That being said, the psychological and biological effects on morale extend past simple enjoyment as I will discuss below.
Nutrition is also important (e.g. Marriott 1994; Friedl & Hoyt 1997; Committee on
Mineral Requirements for Cognitive and Physical Performance of Military Personnel
2006; Research and Technology Organisation Task Group 2010) but nutritious food does
not improve morale much if it is repulsive. Relieving hunger, satisfying taste, and providing requisite nutrients are all important to morale but they must be effectively balanced with other considerations to achieve the optimal results. This balancing act was
101 highlighted by multiple participants although each had a slightly different understanding of how to achieve the proper balance. Cpl Karen Walden emphasized the importance of nutrition over highly desirable but nutritionally dubious foods like fried foods or deserts.
MCpl Boyer felt nutrition was important but focused on producing food that was “hot and lots”. MWO Hamill talked about the importance of balance but argued that soldiers are in challenging, dangerous conditions and if pop and chips provides some comfort than why not let them have it.
Individual Food Preferences
From the perspective of those consuming the food, the senses come into play for another reason which primarily has to do with individual food preferences (Birch 1999).
This aspect of taste is well understood by any cook who has had a perfectly cooked steak sent back because the diner had a different idea of what constitutes medium rare.
Different people like different foods and they have different expectations of what constitutes the proper sensory characteristics of particular dishes. The plethora of available types of pizza, just one dish, speaks to this idea. Some people like thick, soft crust while others prefer a thin, crispy crust. The combination of toppings is nearly endless. There is at least a dozen pizza focused restaurants within a few kilometres of my home. Taste preference is variable. Even elements of taste such as the desire for salt may be universal in that human beings require salt to live and it is ubiquitous around the world
(Kurlansky 2003) but the fact that you also find salty seasonings on tables around the world (e.g. salt shakers, soya sauce, etc.) indicate that the salt levels desired by one individual is not equal to that of another. General patterns of food preference do seem to
102 exist such as relating to class (Bourdieu 1984) or consistent flavour combinations (Rozin
1983) but this does not mean that all Koreans or Londoners or Canadian Soldiers like the same exact foods with the same exact characteristics.
Regionality, Age, and Rank
WO Bienstock and Fred Hamill explained that diners from different regions of
Canada had different taste preferences and there tended to be trends. For example, soldiers from Alberta, as a group, tended to consume more beef and pork while soldiers from Atlantic Canada tended to consume more fish. When a group from Quebec were on base Hamill said they would make sure to include pasta with red sauce in the cycle menu.
They became aware of these trends by observing which food items diners were most frequently selecting and cross referencing these observations with knowledge of where the current batch of diners hailed from. That is, they saw which items were being consumed in the highest quantities and were aware of where visiting units hailed from.
Regionality was not the only variable that affected food preferences as it was brought to my attention early in my fieldwork that there were trends based on the rank and age of the diner as well. Fred Hamill pointed out that senior ranking soldiers, who also were also older, tended to consume a lower proportion of processed and fried foods while the junior ranking soldiers consumed a higher proportion. These trends must be taken into account by the cycle menu creator and those procuring and preparing the food so that appropriate quantities and combinations are ensured. Otherwise, as WO Bienstock and Sgt Elridge related to me, soldiers would complain or the most desirable items would run out prematurely while less desirable items would go to waste.
103 Variety, Individualism, and the American Ethos
A focus of the Food Services is to provide a variety of food items from which soldiers can select the items they most desire. However, a prominent question arises from an examination of this focus. Social groups exist that eat a rigidly consistent diet and yet are perfectly content and suffer no ill psychological effects. Why should variety in the CF be any different? It seems that the answer to this question is twofold. First, the CF is much more culturally diverse than the smaller social groups that eat a relatively similar diet. Second, the American ethos emphasizes, whether directly or indirectly, the availability of choice.
The CF covers a massive geographic area which includes citizens with a widely divergent series of culturally derived tastes. As I mention above, patterns emerge such as soldiers from the Western areas of Canada preferring beef or pork while Atlantic soldiers prefer to eat more seafood. The inclusion of variety in the menu helps to satisfy these variable preferences by ensuring that all preferences are available in relative abundance.
Soldier cooks must ensure that the widest array of culturally diverse individuals can find food selections that they find desirable. Canadian soldiers are drawn from a population in the tens of millions and thus cannot cook for the tastes of one group or another. They must provide an array of foods for a culturally variable group to select from.
There is a focus in North America on choice. This focus on choice appears in
McCloskey and Zaller (1984) where, based on a large quantity of survey data, they conclude that the American ethos involves two primary traditions: democracy and capitalism. A prominent aspect of the cultural foundations of capitalism is individualism.
This encouragement of individuals to promote their own desires and goals leads to a
104 cultural tendency towards choice and therefore variety. A desire for variety is cultivated from a young age as individual desires are encouraged and catered to by society. For individuals to fulfill their desires they require a set of options from which to make these personally derived selections. Thus, institutions in individualistic societies develop with pressures to provide greater and greater selections of ideas and items for individuals to select from. This is particularly true of the armed forces which, as mentioned above, recruits people from across a large country, like Canada, that is culturally diverse.
Personalization
Food preferences, as I argue above, vary among individuals but there is a component that is also culturally constituted. The cultural aspects of taste lead to trends such as regionality, age, and rank but there is still a great deal of individual variation.
Soldier cooks deal with the idiosyncratic aspects of food preference largely by making available a variety of foods and providing the ability to customize diners’ selections through the use of an extensive series of condiments (Appendix F). The use of condiments such as sauces or dressings allow diners to produce familiar characteristics to their foodstuffs that may not conform to their normal food preferences (Witherly 1987).
This is not a panacea however, as what constitutes proper food is different for different individuals and is frequently reified. According to Oxford Dictionaries, reification is the process of treating abstract ideas like they are concrete or physical objects. Reification can be problematic for cooks since they are trying to satisfy the widest range of tastes possible. For example, what constitutes a medium rare steak is not the same for everyone.
There is no such category that exists sui generis . Rather, there is a spectrum of doneness
105 from raw to carbonized that cooks must learn to distinguish as a limited set of doneness.
Although, there will always be disagreement between individuals regarding sensory models of proper food because individual food preferences vary. Thus, the particularity of food preferences can make it difficult to provide familiar foods that conform to an individual’s personal expectations.
Variety and Monotony
Breaking up monotony is an important aspect of a soldier cook’s job. A monotonous diet has numerous negative consequences while variety creates difference in sensory categories and prevents the negative psychological impact resulting from extended periods of sameness (Siegal 1957; Siegal & Pilgrim 1948; Rozin & Tuorila
1993). The accounts of soldiers from some of the largest armed conflicts in history bear this out. During the American Civil War it was firecake, a rudimentary bread made from flour and water cooked over a fire (Fisher & Fisher 2011), during World War I it was bully beef and hardtack, canned boiled beef and hard biscuits (Weeks 2009), during
WWII it was the limited variety of C rations (Fisher & Fisher 2011). These items were consumed ad nauseam by soldiers fighting in the aforementioned conflicts. A common method for preventing monotony is to convert staple foods into an array of dishes that are perceived as different based on sense categories. Staple foods such as wheat and rice often become a variety of different foods from dumplings to bread to noodles or pasta.
For example, by combining different pasta shapes (e.g. fusilli, rigatoni, spaghetti, etc.) with different sauces (e.g. tomato based, cream based, etc.) you produce a much wider variety than would otherwise be available with a limited number of ingredients.
106 As with personalization, condiment use is a valuable method for creating variety where none would otherwise exist. Witherly (1987) has suggested that condiments such as sauces and spices can act to produce variety even when staple items are the same. He notes that “by selectively flavoring sauce bases, a chef promotes neophilia by adding variety to a foodstuff. Hence a sauce maximizes oral pleasure while contributing to assimilation and satiety” (1987:410). When I was consuming operational rations I found the little packets of salt, pepper, and hot sauce to have a substantial positive effect on the palatability of the ration foods and the option to alter their pre existing configuration.
Sometimes the seasonings improved the existing qualities of the dishes while other times they merely covered them up. Recipe books have been produced to teach soldiers how to prepare their operational rations in a manner that improves palatability and variety
(McIlhenny 1966; McIlhenny & Walker 1985). Ensuring variety is a prominent aspect of the Kitchen I/C’s job since he is responsible for creating the cycle menu. WO Bienstock stressed that ensuring a significant variety of options for the diners is one of the most critical aspects of a properly constructed cycle menu and an important component of keeping morale high.
Commensality
Consuming a meal in the company of others is an interaction that often carries a great deal of meaning. Breaking bread with others is an intimate experience.
Commensality, the act of eating food with others (Mars 1997), creates a closeness while refusing to eat with another individual provides a symbol of social distance that extends beyond whatever physical distance may exist (Miller, Rozin, & Fiske 1998).
107 Commensality is “an important component of initiating, building, confirming, deepening, and reaffirming social connections” (Sobal 2000:124). The closeness that eating together brings is not lost on soldier cooks and they may even actively cultivate it. Fred Hamill,
Sgt Enders, and MCpl Boyer noted that commensality can have a positive effect on
morale while the fragmentation of diners can have the opposite effect and may be an
indicator of cohesion breaking down. After Sgt Enders got large pots of water boiling on
the makeshift burner I described above he ensured that the troops ate with one another.
He actively fostered the closeness that comes from commensality. He told me that the people who ate together had a greater level of interaction which benefitted cohesion and prevented the fragmentation of the group into smaller groups and thereby had a positive
effect on morale.
Interactional Effects on Morale
At first, most soldier cooks I interviewed spoke about a causal link between
desirable food and the spirits of the troops. However they also spoke of the important
effect of interactions between those preparing or serving the food and those consuming it.
MCpl Browne stressed that small interactions occurring in the mess hall between cooks
and soldiers had great potential to improve or diminish morale. Familiar smiling faces,
cordial greetings, manners, jokes, and playful teasing all acted to make tedious or
difficult days a little easier to take. She also noted that there was a positive cascading
effect when the aforementioned practices occurred while a negative cascade occurred
when these interactions were absent. For example, if someone is having a bad day and are
discourteous to diners in the steam line those diners may also adopt a bad mannered
108 disposition. Those individuals then continue on with their day in a bad mood and further spread their malcontent to other members. Like an infectious disease, negative emotions are spread eventually reaching a critical mass that results in diminished group morale. Of course, the converse is also true in that a positive disposition can also spread through the group. Clearly, there are many variables and it is not a simple relationship but many of my participants confirmed that a good or bad mood can be contagious.
Home cooking
Eating out is nice but nothing beats a home cooked meal according to Pte Reiben.
Fred Hamill stressed the crucial role home style foods have in a mess hall. While soldiers
are away from their familiar setting giving them a taste of home can have a positive effect
on morale. In static kitchens, soldier cooks have a degree of freedom when it comes to preparing their assigned dishes. They may be told, for instance, that they are to prepare potatoes lyonnaise, a dish of potatoes and onions sautéed in butter that is often seasoned
with parsley, but how they accomplish this is largely up to them. That is, it is up to them
as long as the final product is desirable and is a recognizable facsimile of the dish. For
example, one afternoon I was watching Pte Reiben prepare potatoes lyonnaise, his
assigned dish, when he abruptly darted off to a cupboard containing a variety of
seasonings. When he returned he was clutching a small container of dried summer
savory, an aromatic herb, which he sprinkled on the sizzling potatoes. Pte Reiben then proceeded to taste the potatoes and remarked that “it tastes like something my grandma
made”. He offered me a sample and I noticed that it did indeed have a home cooked
quality that is atypical of prepackaged and processed foods. His ability to improvise
109 aspects of the dish provided a quality that is not found in mass produced items and increased the variety of food items on the cycle menu. When I commented on the homey quality of his dish he replied “if all we served was fast food it would feel like eating out all the time and nobody wants that”.
4.3 Conclusion
In this chapter, I have focused on two main areas. The first area provided a glimpse at the backstage life of military cooks and explored what life in Food Services is like. Some of the topics I discussed were the concept of being a soldier first and a cook second, praise and complaining, improvisation, coping with boredom, and informal exchange systems. In the second section I explore the effect that food has on morale using concepts from the anthropology of the senses, a recently formulated subfield focusing on the physical senses. After I briefly explore the anthropology of the senses and some prominent ideas regarding morale I discuss how the senses and military cookery interact to influence troop morale. In the following chapter I present my conclusions and discuss future directions for research on military cookery and soldier cooks.
110 Conclusion
I woke up on my last day of fieldwork in an unusual emotional state. It was an
odd mixture of relief, sadness, and anticipation. Relief that I had completed my fieldwork
without any major gaffes, sadness that I would be leaving many individuals with whom I
had built pleasant relationships, and anticipation for my return to normal life and seeing
my loved ones. I had a strange attachment to CFB Wainwright after spending nearly
seven weeks living on base. It was a whirlwind of activity as I went about withdrawing
from the field. I had to pack, pay for accommodations, turn in my key cards, pay for
rations, and prepare for the five hour drive home. Little did I know that there would be a brief presentation acknowledging my exit.
I arrived at the CMK to say my goodbyes and tie up some loose ends. Fred Hamill
asked me when I was leaving and then told me that there would be a brief presentation at
one o’clock. I hung around until then, chatting and feeling strange that I was not writing
down anything people were saying to me. I was presented with a certificate wishing me
the best with my studies. I felt even more emotional as I was not expecting to make much
of an impact on the individuals I was studying. I rambled through a thank you and with
that my fieldwork came to an abrupt end. I stuck around for dinner, spaghetti with meat
sauce and garlic toast, and shook hands before driving off in my rental car. The
experience, while difficult, gave me insight into the military institution and its culture
that I could not have otherwise achieved.
So, after all of these words, what is ‘military food’? It’s more than just food eaten by military personnel. There is an elaborate institution that produces it. There are highly
111 skilled individuals that prepare it. There are thousands of warfighters who consume it.
Military food can be served anywhere and under any conditions. Military food is ‘hot and lots’. It is designed to satisfy the largest number of individual taste palettes while being nutritious and relatively cheap. It takes a number of forms from cafeteria style to boxes of food to highly resilient and intricately packaged combat rations. Above all else, it fuels the individuals tasked with protecting a nation. As the saying goes, “people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf” (Grenier 1993:F3). These ‘rough men’ stand ready only because they have food in their bellies.
The purpose of this text is twofold: first, to provide a source of information for those interested in learning about military food and the individuals who produce it and, second, to investigate the ways in which military food, troop morale, and the physical senses intersect. Soldier cooks, like all other soldiers, must follow a chain of command, know how to march in formation, be skilled in the operation of firearms, etc but they also have the freedom to express creativity through the dishes they prepare and their creativity directly impacts troop morale. The soldier cook experience can be separated into two areas: the front stage and the back stage. The formal, front stage aspects of the military
Food Services involve the procurement, production, and distribution of sustenance to all branches of the CF. The informal, back stage aspects of military Food Services involve coping with boredom, improvisation, negotiation, informal exchange systems, and joking, pranks, and ridicule. A prominent aspect of the soldier cook experience is the intersection of military food, the physical senses and troop morale. Soldier cooks must rely on their physical senses and their sensory models of food to produce nourishment that is at least
112 tolerable but preferably pleasurable. Troop morale is directly influenced by the food they eat and thus the physical senses of the soldier cooks who produce it. Soldier cooks carry knowledge of the desirable characteristics for a variety of dishes and use their physical senses to create food with these characteristics.
Based on my fieldwork at CFB Wainwright and the literature regarding military cookery, it is clear that food is of great importance to operational effectiveness. This is true whether it is feeding soldiers’ bellies so that they have the energy to carry out their tasks or feeding their psychological needs to maintain high morale. As described in the previous chapters, there is little information available to interested scholars about the ways in which food acts to influence troop morale. It seems to me that the effectiveness and efficiency of military Food Services could benefit from further investigation into this relationship.
It can be useful to examine the formal normative frameworks of the military, in general, and food services, specifically, if one wishes to understand how soldier cooks experience their occupation and how they go about providing sustenance to the troops.
That being said, it is equally crucial to understand the informal aspects of life in the armed forces, otherwise an observer would be missing a large portion of military culture.
Such aspects of a soldier’s experience as joking relationships, informal bartering, and improvisation are integrated into an individual’s conception of their trade. Without some knowledge of these concepts, policy may not have the outcome desired by those responsible for crafting it.
Soldier cooks rely on their knowledge of sensory models and their physical senses to produce desirable dishes. I believe that studying the intersection of food and the
113 military is a fertile area of inquiry in that it brings together two topics of anthropological inquiry: one that has been well studied, food, and another that anthropologists have only just begun studying, the military. The former has a rich history while the latter’s history
is still spotty. Further research could shed light on the psychological effects of variable
methods for sustaining one’s body in the face of battle.
Due to practical and ethical considerations I had to focus more on the cook side of
military food. I would like to see more ethnographic fieldwork conducted with the
consumers of food in a military setting, particularly regarding morale. As I have argued
in the above text, food’s effect on morale in the armed forces is not exposed to any
further scrutiny than “an army marches on its stomach”. To determine the precise nature
of the interplay between morale and food it would require more research with soldiers, preferably in an actual field setting. When soldiers are out of a field setting they have
access to avenues of acquiring goods that mediate the challenges of consistently
consuming military food. When soldiers are in a field setting the challenges are, if not
greater, at least different. Further research with soldiers in a field setting may help
improve their experience and effectiveness.
Were I to conduct this project again, I would pursue the sense categories of cooks by having a group of experienced cooks freelist (Quinlan 2005) descriptive terms that fit
under the concept of sense categories, perhaps by asking them to list qualities that food
has. This would provide a rich collection of sense category terms unencumbered by the
researcher’s impositions. One would then be able to calculate salience of each term in a
given cultural setting and draw further conclusions about their sensory models.
114 Yet another area I would like to see explored further is the manner in which cooks move from theoretical knowledge of food preparation to actual food preparation. That is, the ways in which food preparers convert their knowledge of recipes, kitchen tools, cooking techniques, etc into pleasing dishes. The ways in which this progression occurs could be studied in settings other than the military: other institutional settings like prisons or hospitals, commercial restaurants, fast food restaurants, haute cuisine , and a variety of other settings. Through a comparison of the results gathered in these different settings it may be possible to identify general trends in the thought processes required to produce different types of foods or in the sensory models of cooks.
Lastly, I would argue that the general field of military logistics is, on the whole, grossly understudied. Military historian and theorist Martin Van Creveld wrote that:
It may be that this requires, not any great strategic genius but only plain hard work and cold calculation. While absolutely basic, this kind of calculation does not appeal to the imagination, which may be one reason why it is so often ignored by military historians (2007[1977]:1 2).
The information is dry and there are few compelling tales of logistics but it can make or break a battle or war.
Soldier cooks, in particular, and military food, in general, are two areas that could produce valuable data, both theoretical and practical. The impact of cooks and food on
troop morale is taken for granted. It is hard to summarize a complicated institution such
as the military Food Services or an intricate role like soldier cook but perhaps this poem by J.C. Hartey (ND), entitled Ode to the Soldier Cook , does it best:
From West Berlin to Hong Kong From Cyprus to Belize One soldier always will appear, In heat wave and in freeze
115 He may be old, he may be young, He may be fat or skinny. The lads all laugh as he goes by, The soldier in his pinny.
He's just the bloke who burns the toast, Who moans the least and does the most, Who rises to the cockerels call, And leaves the camp behind them all.
He feeds the lads on exercise, From breakfast through to tea He feeds the chaps in messes too, So versatile is he.
His hat might not be smart like yours, His shoes may not be bulled. But don't be fooled by lack of shine, His senses haven't dulled.
From deep inside a sense of pride Will keep him in the good, And when he says he couldn't care, You know he really could.
So if your chef's in the field, Or back at home on his courses, Be proud to know you're looking at The backbone of the Forces.
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126 Appendix A: Search Engines and Terms
Search Engines
Google Google Books Google Scholar University of Calgary Library – Summon University of Calgary Library – Catalogue Military Museums Library – Catalogue
Search Terms
Military Food Military Cookery Military Provisions Military Rations Military Operational Rations Military Hard Rations Military Logistics Food Military Logistics Provisions Military Logistics Rations Operational Rations Hard Rations Individual Meal Pack/IMP Meals, Ready to Eat/MRE C Rations K Rations Canadian Military Food American/US Military Food British Military Food French Military Food Chinese Military Food Japanese Military Food
127 Appendix B: Preliminary Interview Questions
General open ended questions (not designed to be rigorously followed; rather, meant as a rough set of talking points which were tailored to the situation; based on the situation I would probe further)
How’s the food? What did you eat today? What effect does the individual experience/skill of the cook have on the food? How was it? • Texture? • Flavour? • Aroma? • Social context? • Speed? Do you chat with people while you are eating? • What topics do you usually talk about? How did the food make you feel? • Did it give you energy?; Does it make you feel logy?; etc. What do you think of hay box meals? What do you think of box lunches? What do you think of food in the mess? How does it compare to ‘home cooking’? Are there foods you look forward to when you get off base? How does the food impact your experience at Wainwright? How does the food impact your experience of the CF? There are many different cooking traditions throughout the world (e.g. Italian, Moroccan, etc); Is there a military food tradition? What distinguishes it from civilian food? What characteristics do you try to produce in the food? What characteristics (i.e. flavour, texture, aroma, colour, etc) are important for food? What role do you perform in the preparation of meals? How long have you been performing that set of tasks? How does the air force eat compared to the land forces? How does the navy eat compared to the land forces? How do the officers eat compared to the NCMs? What do you think of IMPs? Are they better than MREs? How often do you eat IMPs? What is the longest you have eaten IMPs for? What entrées do you like? What entrées do you dislike? Do you have any IMP recipes? What parts of the job do you find challenging?
128 Appendix C: Interview Data
Number of Junior NCO* Interviews 1 1 2 2 3 2 4 1 5 3 6 0 7 2 8 3 9 0 10 3 11 2 12 4 13 0 14 5 15 2 16 3 17 1 18 0 19 1 20 1 21 2 22 1 23 1 24 0 25 1 26 1 27 0 28 0 Total 41 *Rank from high to low Senior Lt, CWO, MWO, WO, NCO/Officer Sgt Junior NCO MCpl, Cpl, Pte
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Senior NCO/Officer* Number of Interviews 1 2 2 1 3 5 4 2 5 1 6 1 7 3 8 4 9 1 10 0 Total 20
Civilian Staff* Number of Interviews 1 2 2 1 3 1 4 0 5 3 6 1 7 2 8 3 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 0 Total 16 Fos 5, Fos 2, *Positions Shipping/Receiving
130 Appendix D: Diagrams
Figure 1
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Figure 2
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Figure 3
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Figure 4
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Figure 5
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Figure 6
136 Appendix E: Illustrations
Illustration 1
137 Illustration 2
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Illustration 3
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Illustration 4
140 Illustration 5
141 Illustration 6
142 Illustration 7
143 Appendix F: Mess Hall Condiments
Condiments: Breakfast • Cheese Whiz • PB (Creamy) • Orange Marmalade • Raspberry Jam • Honey • Grape Jelly • Strawberry Jam • Pancake Syrup • Mayonnaise • Crackers • White Vinegar • Mustard • Louisiana Hot Sauce • Ketchup • Napkins • Toothpicks • Cooking Molasses • Chilli Flakes • Tabasco • HP sauce • A1 sauce • Lea and Perrins Worcestershire • Chilli Sauce • Heinz 57 • Butter • Cream cheese • Margerine
Condiments (Lunch/Dinner) • Toothpicks • Ketchup • Barbeque Sauce • Tartar Sauce • Seafood Sauce • Apple Blend [Applesauce] • Cranberry Sauce • Honey Mustard • Sweet and Sour Sauce • Salad Dressings (Kraft) Calorie Wise Rancher’s Choice Balsamic Vinaigrette Calorie Wise French style Calorie Wise Zesty Italian
144 Calorie Wise Thousand Island • Calorie Wise Miracle Whip • Regular Miracle Whip • Salad Dressing (Hellmans) Creamy Ranch French Creamy Caesar Creamy Thousand Island • Mayonnaise • Crackers • Louisiana Style Hot Sauce • Plum Sauce • White Vinegar • Mustard • Green Relish • Napkins • Chilli Sauce • Tabasco • A1 sauce • Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce • HP sauce
145 Appendix G: List of Ranks
Lieutenant (Lt) Officers
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Master Warrant Officer (MWO) Senior NCOs Warrant Officer (WO) Sergeant (Sgt)
Master Corporal (MCpl) Junior NCOs
Corporal (Cpl) Other Ranks Private (Pte)
146 Appendix H: Glossary
Box Lunch: Box lunches are cold meals packaged in brown, cardboard containers served to soldiers who are unable to eat in permanent dining facilities.
Chief Cook: The Chief Cook is the individual responsible for Food Services. He is in charge of the crew management of all military personnel and is the technical advisor to the Base Food Services Officer.
Combat Rations: See Operational Rations
Combats: A uniform comprised of a long sleeved, button up jacket, pants with drawstrings on the cuff, and high boots. The jacket and trousers are in a pixellated camouflage pattern and display rank insignia.
Combined Mess Kitchen (CMK): The primary mess hall at CFB Wainwright and is open to all ranks of soldiers as well as civilians.
Corrective Training: Training assigned to individuals due to an infraction such as a failed inspection.
Cycle Menu: The menu offered in the mess that is selected by the I/C Kitchen and varies from day to day over a several week cycle.
Duty NCO: A corporal or master corporal assigned to a desk at the front of the CMK who is responsible for checking ration cards, ensuring diners wash their hands, maintaining standards of dress, and dealing with misbehaviour.
Dynamic Feeding: Refers to food provisioning in situations other than established dining facilities.
Feeding Commitment: The potential feeding population on base at a given mealtime.
Field Exercise: A military operation intended to replicate, as close as safely possible, the conditions faced by troops in a combat situation.
Field Kitchen: Mobile cooking and dining areas that can be deployed to feed troops who are unable to eat in static mess facilities. Consists of varying numbers and configurations of mobile kitchen trailers, refrigerated trucks, and shipping containers.
Field Rations: See Operational Rations
Food Services: The organization of personnel and resources responsible for providing food services.
147 Forward Operating Bases (FOB): A field kitchen set up in an area located away from an established base.
Fos 2: Civilian kitchen staff responsible for cleaning, food service, and limited food preparation.
General Duty (GD): General Duty refers to being assigned to the mess as a kitchen helper.
Hard Rations: See Operational Rations
Hayboxes: Hayboxes are large thermos like containers which are used to serve hot meals to soldiers who are unable to eat in static mess facilities.
I/C: In charge.
I/C Kitchen: See Chief Cook
Individual Meal Pack (IMP): The primary type of operational ration in the CF.
Mess: The official location on a military base where soldiers can obtain and consume food.
Mobile Kitchen Trailer (MKT): A fold out trailer that once deployed provides expanded outward and a series of modular cooking devices are set up in a variety of configurations.
Operational Rations: Packaged foods designed to be durable, transportable, and easily eaten with minimal preparation and effort for use in a combat environment or when other feeding options are unavailable.
Physical Training (PT) Gear: The clothing worn during physical training.
Shift 2IC: The individual who is second in charge after the Shift I/C.
Shift I/C: The Shift I/C is the individual in charge of a given shift and is responsible for many of the day to day activities that keep the kitchen running smoothly.
‘Shit On’: To correct through telling.
Static Feeding: Static feeding refers to provisioning food in an established dining facility like a mess hall.
Whites: The cooks’ uniform consisting of a white, short sleeved, button up shirt, white pants, and a white apron tied around the waist.
148