Feeding Tommy

According to Napoleon, an army marches on its stomach and it fights on its stomach too - yet have you ever wondered how hundreds of men on the frontline are fed under fire or in the trench lines? During the Great War troops were trained to make meals out of the bare minimum of ingredients, to feed a company of men from only a mess tin and cook curries to feed hundreds only yards from the frontline. Trench Cookbook brings together recipes from the First World War and hints and tips from the Tommy Cook. Many recipes are illustrated with cartoons and drawings on how to assemble the perfect oven and kitchen tools at a moment's notice from nothing. This book is the pefect inspiration for those who like to create an amazing meal anywhere, anytime from anything.

Auteur

Andrew Robertshaw MA is a museum curator, military historian, author and broadcaster. He has written five books about aspects of military history. He is a subject matter expert for the army for whom he lectures, gives presentations at Staff College and runs battlefield studies. He has appeared as expert and presenter in a large number of television documentaries including The Trench Detectives, Time Team and Finding the Fallen. He is director of The Battlefield Partnerships and is working on a series of international media and archaeological projects.

Résumé
"I found to my delight that I had stumbled across a kind of soup kitchen. The Tommy in charge was stirring a copperful of 'Shackles' (soup made from the very dregs of army cooking and stirred with a stick). I must have looked in need of extra nourishment for he said 'D'yer want a drop, son?' 'Yes please' I replied if you can spare it.' The warmth and zest from that beefy liquid, unexpected as it was, compelled me to accept a second bowlful which I drank with the same enthusiasm as the first." - George Coppard, from With A Machine Gun to Cambrai. From bully beef to Tickler's jam, explore what kept Tommy Atkins fed in the trenches by reading recipes and learning how meals were made just yards from the enemy. In this book Andrew Robertshaw combines history, recipes and historical experiments to reveal how Army Cooks in the First World War fed millions of men everyday against the odds.