Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-09-15
Lady, Learn to Cook or Your
CT Will Go Home to
The Army!

vi VIII 20 Rome to
The Army!
By Captain Ben Irwin Butler
(Founder and President of the Society of
Amateur Chefs.)
Sitting by the roadside on a Summer day
Chatting tUith my mess.mafes, passing
time quay
Singing in the shado,p, underneath the
trees;
Goodness - hou de Ii. CT Gus - eating
COOBER PEAS!"
That's an old Civil war song. And
1t goes to show that in all wars up
permost in the soldiers mind is
food. should spell that word with
capitals-FOOD.
Fora Layman, the radio and re-
cording artist, sang Eating Goober
Peas" the other night at a cocktail
party. don't know whether it was
her singing or what, but Fora Lay
mans song practically started a
riot. I was the center of it all.
The women at the party began
asking me questions. They wanted
to know all about Army food. And
believe me, I told EN-! I told them
both as an ex-Air Corps captain and
as the founder of the Society of Anna
teur Chefs, an exclusive New York
club composed of famous men who
make hobby of cooking.
First of all, 1 explained about this
business of KIP.
The movies and fiction have paint
ed kaypee mostly as business of
peeling potatoes and cleaning gar
bage cans. But that's a lot of nom
sense. Many soldiers try to get on
KIP. And why not-the kitchen is one
Of the warmest spots around the
camp in the Winter time. The du-
ties are easy enough. And there's
always the pick of wen-stocked
larder from which to select ones
food. I'm not kidding. Instead of
being punishment job handed out
by the army to recalcitrants, kaypee
is one detail CT Joe doesn't mind
According to Bill Rhode, who
Is one of the editors of Gourmet,
many of their fan letters come from
soldiers and sailors. had lunch
with Bill the other day and he told
me how many requests for epicure-
an recipes there had been from
men in the various services. That
'ery day, he'd received letter from
an Admiral asking how to smoke
herring.
The slogan, 1.-The best fed Army
in the world" has been tossed
around great deal. People don't
any longer grasp entirely what it
means.
The Army kitchen is no harum-
scarum affair. In many instances
it is an electrical job, spick-and-span,
offering an open invitation to good
cookery. 1t has everything in the
way of equipment and, believe me,
the medical officers see to it that it
is as sanitary as kitchen can pos
sibly be made. No foolin'-you can
just ubout see your face in the bot
tom of an Army garbage can.
Thousands of Army lads have
been carefully trained in cooking,
butchering and baking and most of
them have become good cooks.
Some, at least, have become eff
Gent cooks, although perhaps I'M
inspired. And then, Of course, some
will never learn. Hence the dis
crepancy between reports from va
rious camps and units. Some men
will rave about the food they en-
joyed in their outfit Others will
keep on yearning for Mothers beef
stew and apple pie. But, take it
from me, very few are telling their
pals what a wonderful cook the girl
is they left behind.
And there's something else told
the ladies at the cocktail party to
ponder over.
Though the Army food wins no
squawks, the GIs occasionally yearn
for the finer things of life. For in
stance, nephew of mine, John Pr
per. who is an Army pilot some
where in the South Pacific, upon
learning that I was back in New
York, wrote to me for a recipe for
Wild Duck la Press. My old mess
sergeant, now stationed in a south
ern climate, inquired as to how to
make a tart lime marmalade
Another inquiry came to me from
a service man far away-I'll let you
guess asking how to make
"Tuiles." These are thin waters
that accompany curry when the lat
ter is served in the elegant manner.
An officer connected with the
Army's dietary service told me that
he'd had an inquiry from a mess
sergeant asking how to make wine
out of berries-a reasonable enough
request-only the Army doesn't give
out with answers to such questions.
They Kno,p Nolo Al Food
Doesn't Come Out OF Cans!
With repeal came the renaissance
of American gastronomy Slowly, an
interest in good food returned But
with the War, millions of boys are
learning and discovering that all
food does not come out of tin cans.
And this interest is growing by leaps