Tucked in the pocket of Cpl. Colton Walsh’s crisp, white chef coat is a bunch of plastic spoons.
The taste-testing utensils help him ensure the huge vat of butter chicken he’s making is up to scratch for today’s lunchtime rush.
‘Cooking for an army’3:29
The 28-year-old soldier bops from the stainless steel stoves, to the preparation stations, to the front serving line at the Edmonton Garrison combined mess.
“It gets pretty hectic, sometimes to the point where you’re literally going non-stop,” Walsh admits.
“I try to cook at home and I always just make up too much food and I have leftovers for weeks because when I come here I’m so used to cooking for an army,” he said.
Master Cpl. Josh Falconer, 28, feeds off the mealtime rush.
Master Cpl. Josh Falconer overseas the operations in the Edmonton Garrison kitchen with military precision. (John Robertson/CBC)
“I like the adrenalin and I enjoy pushing out great meals and having guys coming up and saying, ‘Hey, that was the best,’ ” he said.
On this day the lunch crowd numbers 200, but that count can balloon to thousands when the base hosts special events and training exercises or when packing ration boxes.
Sometimes the staff aren’t concocting cuisine in the comfort of their kitted out commercial kitchen on base.
Falconer recounts cooking in the cold and dark out of the back of a food trailer near Wainwright east of Edmonton.
“To create meals out in a remote location like that, it’s a little awkward. It’s something you got to to get used to.”
Cpl. Cory Bell has been there. The 38-year-old cook has deployed alongside his unit on training exercises and recent missions in Ukraine and Poland.
Cpl. Cory Bell dishes out the marching orders for the lunchtime rush. (Adrienne Lamb/CBC)
Bell takes pride in knowing what the troops enjoys and how they like it served.
“They’re spending long days outside. They’re freezing cold by the time they come back in, right? So they’re looking for hot meals, and they’re looking for a friendly face.”
At times Cpl. Colton Walsh knows he’s dishing out a side order of morale along with a home-cooked meal.
“Because honestly sometimes they can have the worst day in their life and they can come in and have the best meal and all of a sudden cheer up again,” he said.
You can see more from the military base on this week’s Our Edmonton Sunday and Monday at 11 a.m. on CBC TV.
Ration boxes are stacked at the back of the kitchen getting prepped to go out to troops. (Adrienne Lamb/CBC)