Regular readers will know that I'm a veteran of military service. Many of you are also veterans, so you'll understand why this article gave me both heartburn and a severe attack of the munchies.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) contingent in Afghanistan was treated yesterday to a meal of carpaccio, scallops, duck with red beets and mushrooms, and chocolate cake with passion fruit mousse prepared by the chef of a one Michelin star restaurant.
After discovering that the boyfriend of a waitress working at his Basiliek restaurant in Harderwijk, the Netherlands, served in Afghanistan, chef Rik Jansma said he would like to cook there and was invited by the Dutch Ministry of Defense to do so. Reinforced by RNLAF personnel with cooking experience, Jansma spent two days preparing the four-course meal.
There's more at the link.
I've eaten more than my fair share of South African ratpacks;
and I know many of my readers have OD'ed on C-rations, K-rations and MRE's;
Contents of a MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
but I can't recall ever eating a meal like that while in uniform - and precious few times out of uniform, for that matter! Passion fruit mousse? In a combat zone??? Damn, I'm jealous!
Peter
4 comments:
See also:
Outback Steakhouse "Operation Feeding Freedom".
With confirmation from Snopes if you didn't believe the company's own site. ;-)
Kudos to them, and the Netherlanders!
That is pretty cool, right there. We dined very, very well (king crab, lobster, salmon and halibut on the menu, all caught locally) while I was stationed on Adak in the Aleutians, but never anything like what you've described while onboard a tin can in the Med.
I still have a P-38 on my keychain that came from a can of C-rats(beans and wienies) in 1967.
On my late dad's keychain next to his dogtags is a P-38 from his time in the Navy (1946-1950).
This actually explains why guys think that their military service was the best time of their lives. Thank you for coming home. :)
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