Behind the Stove – Feeding the Provincial Reconstruction Team

NZ PRT caterers in Afghanistan - SSGT Grant Nisbet, LCPL Sarah Hannam, ACH Ally Cocker, ACH Rowena Kaa, with Aziz,  Sakina and Mohammad.

by SSGT Grant Nisbet
5 January 2008

It’s 0500 hours and all around New Zealand on the camps, ships and bases the catering staff will be starting their work for the day, except possibly for the duty staff these will be the only people stirring at this time on a daily basis. 

In Afghanistan the NZ PRT will have other people up and active manning communications, the Command Post (CP) and security details while the chefs do their 40 metre dash to work under 4 layers of clothing, braving the -13˚C chilly morning air. 

The daily routine for the caterers in the NZ PRT starts with making breakfast and cut lunches for those personnel going out of camp for the day. 

Breakfast includes all the items you would expect to have at any of the camps or bases at home - bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns,  baked beans … baked beans … baked beans … yes the baked beans are somewhat of a staple item due to the difficulty in getting any spaghetti or creamed corn.  ther common items include pan cakes, corn fritters and croissants as well as the standard continental items such as including fresh fruit salad. 

Once breakfast is completed then the early shift chef will continue preparing lunch while the bakery shift chef (if we're lucky enough to have one) will be completing the finishing touches on the comprehensive morning tea and preparing the dinner sweets.

Lunch and dinner once again are very similar to what you get on a regular camp or base however it is more of a smorgasbord than a dictatorship of ‘one choice only’!... Many personnel come back for 2nds, 3rds and 4ths a testament, we presume, to the caterers' producing good food.

Although some personnel seem to be eating almost constantly thus far there appears to be no obvious signs of increasing belt sizes … in fact just the opposite seems to be occurring in many cases … possibly attributable to the altitude and the body’s requirement for more sustenance than normal.

Aside from the regular dinners the NZ PRT have hosted very successful "theme nights" with the Mess literally buzzing during these occasions. To date themes have included Mexican,Thanksgiving and Curry , with the mess suitably attired for each of these occasions. 

We’ve also celebrated 25 birthdays with a raucous chorus of ‘happy birthday’ and a cake baked for each of the individuals.  We have hosted approximately 300 visitors for meals.

The Mess ‘Haddock Hall’ remains open 24 hours so that those duty personnel working though the night have access to coffee, tea and snack making facilities.

The catering staff on this current NZ PRT deployment comprises four NZDF chefs (myself, SSGT Grant Nisbet, LCPL Sarah Hannam, ACH Ally Cocker & ACH Rowena Kaa), as well as four Locally Employed Civilians (LEC) who have been working within the PRT kitchen since its humble beginnings. 

The kitchen itself is very functional, with much the same kind of equipment that one would expect back in New Zealand, 3 gas stoves, 2 fryers, 2 mixers and several refrigerators and freezers. 

The infrastructure of the Mess building itself has over time been gradually improved to best fit all seasons - the extreme heat of the summer and the cold that we are now starting to endure coming into winter.  One of the most ingenious modifications, (thanks Wazza), is a vent from the kitchen into the gas bottle storage room to prevent them from freezing over during winter…this is already paying dividends for us, as is the tracer wire that we have wrapped around the plumbing to prevent our fresh and waste water from freezing in the pipes.

So that’s the low-down on the NZ PRT Catering.  Everything is now (after 3 months of this latest deployment) ticking over smoothly here for the most part. The morale over here appears to be high which we would like to attribute in part to the provision of the hearty meals.  We enjoyed planning for our white Christmas celebrations and bracing ourselves for the big freeze!

Ends