Pte Jess Mansfield in the business of impressing patrons of the BGR. Photo by LS Ollie Garside, 1JPAU(P)

Passion for morale

By Cpl Jonathan Garland

FREQUENTLY maligned, often overlooked but always essential – in East Timor, as in operational theatres everywhere, cooks are feeding the soldiers on the job.

Kitchen Manager Cpl Peter Diamantis at the Battalion Group Rear (BGR) said his team cooked with a lot of passion in trying to impress their customers.

“You’ve got to keep the menus different and keep people interested as they come through the point,” he said.
“Morale is a big issue a lot of cooks forget – we’re here to aid morale, not just feed bodies.”

Eurest supply rations to the UN in East Timor, sourced from locations all over the world.

The three cooks, with the assistance of some locally employed civilians, feed 130 soldiers on a daily basis.

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