November 11th is a time when we, as a community and nation, spend time thinking about serving the people who responded to the call of the country, worked hard to protect our way of life, and made the ultimate sacrifice for it.

For me as a chef, I have always been interested in the stories and history of the army and food brothers during the war.

Our family has a personal connection with one of the stories. You see, my grandparents met at a base in England during the Second World War. My grandfather Bill was a young and handsome mechanic in the Canadian Army. He met my grandmother Ruth, who was a British lady who worked as a cook in the British army. 

That accidental encounter made my grandmother one of many war brides. These brides left their families in England and crossed the Atlantic to start a new life with their Canadian husbands.

As a cook, my grandmother was obviously affected by her time as a military cook. She had to go through food rations, shortages, and life under the threat of bomb attacks.

I remember her way of preparing a big meal for her family effortlessly, and her ability to efficiently use almost all ingredients to make the most of the available ingredients.

Although she is an excellent chef and a loving grandma, I am not entirely convinced that sliced ​​"bully beef and mashed potatoes" is a great dinner, but it does feel like England in the 1940s on those nights!

Without her, I would never learn to really appreciate canned beef, fried chicken liver, stewed fruit, bird custard powder or decadent British snacks.

It is difficult for us to even begin to understand the ordeal that our grandparents and great-grandparents experienced during the First and Second World Wars. Looking back from the chef's eyes, the challenge of feeding thousands of soldiers on the battlefield with the quantity and quality of available ingredients is indeed a difficult task.

Putting aside all the jokes about the quality and caliber of military food, the job of keeping the army forward is an amazing job. Food and morale go hand in hand. Ask any soldier and they will tell you. The field rations can only end here. A hot meal is a kind of comfort and one of the few pleasures that people can enjoy in the wild.

Our army has done a great job in training chefs and culinary teams. In my career, I have had the honor to witness it with my own eyes. When I started teaching in the Culinary Department of Georgia College, the school had a program to integrate chef interns into our regular cooking classes.

For me, this means that as a brand new teacher, half of my students wear uniforms to study. I am very lucky because they are a great group of people.

A few years later, when CFB Borden was renovating the cooking training building, we hosted the training team and new employees on campus and spent a full summer semester. It was great to witness the military-style training with your own eyes. Every detail and course reflects this precision and professionalism. Surprisingly, even if the basic principles of cooking and cooking are the same, military style can work best in the kitchen.

When I had the opportunity to reconnect with some of the teaching teams I met at CFB Borden, the excellent culinary skills and military enthusiasm of our troops was very obvious. I was in Edmonton for the Chef Association meeting, and the CFB Edmonton team was hosting a private dinner for us at the base.

We got a rare opportunity to see how our fellow chefs provided a full dinner service for 150 people outside the on-site kitchen. It also includes a tour of the kitchen and facilities, and provides food for up to 5,000 service staff every day. The event ended with live entertainment, a bowl of "moose milk" and laughter.

What really impressed me that night was their pride in their work, their commitment to service, the food they shared and the friendship in the stories they told.

At home, there is a place for our veterans, their families and friends to gather together and share the same friendship and the joy of hospitality that I experienced in the Royal Canadian Legion CFB Edmonton.

Established after the First World War to provide a strong voice for returning veterans, today’s Legion is an organization that strives to advocate, support and defend the rights of our veterans.

There are legions branches all over the country, from coast to coast, providing spaces for these men and women to gather and share. Many branches provide venues for various community gatherings, events, and fundraising activities that support many other groups. They are an indispensable part of many small communities in our country.

In Barrie, we have Chapter 147 of the Royal Canadian Legion. The executive committee and 147 members support and make a lot of efforts to enrich our community. Their work helps remind us of those who enable us to enjoy freedom. From Poppy Drive to community dinners and dances, they provide a variety of services and entertainment for you to enjoy.

This year, more than ever, I need you to take some time to think about the brave men and women who responded to the call and made sacrifices for service. Support Legion Poppy Drive, and take a moment to remember it on November 11th.

For more information about the Legion and its work, click here. 

About the author: Daniel Clements