How Ukrainians cooked borscht in Iraq

The peacekeeping mission in Iraq is not all military service, but also a unique opportunity to experience first hand the organization of food supplies in various forces of the multinational division. As they say, wars always stop for mess.

I recall as in the early 1990s the Soviet army newspaper Red Star wrote without a touch of irony about American soldiers refusing to fight under desert conditions without cold drinking water and portable toilets. So much for principles in a capitalist system that is obviously decaying. What are those Yankees, unable to survive without the blessings of civilization, compared to our Soviet fighters imbued with the ideals of Marxism- Leninism and ready for the ultimate sacrifice? No sooner had I arrived in the sun-drenched Kuwait than I understood that fifty degrees Celsius in the shade without an air-conditioned tent and enough drinking water is the most difficult, if fatal, ordeal for a European. Meanwhile, a portable toilet under desert conditions is more a necessity than a luxury.

Now that countless accommodation problems have been solved, life is much easier in the brigade. Meanwhile, in the early days Logistics Department Chief Lt. Col. Mykola Tilipailo had a thousand things to do at the base camp: issue air conditioners here, see to delaying floor planks there, decide how much water is needed or how much linoleum is left. The array of issues he had to solve was very broad, ranging from nails to drinking water.

“As with all pioneers, initially we faced countless problems. Frankly, the local services, which had catered to a US Marine battalion before us, did not expect so many servicemen. At least, the facilities for preparing food were not ready. They had placed electric powered cooking equipment in a cramped room together with the canteen. Later we put up two more big tents, but even those could not accommodate all of our personnel at one time,” says Lt. Col. Tilipailo.

However, today the Ukrainian peacekeepers’ base camp has one of the best mess halls. One-third of a hangar built in only three weeks is occupied by food preparation equipment. There are refrigerators and stoves, with the remaining space designed to accommodate 684 hungry servicemen.

A MESS HALL IS NO CANTEEN

Everything is unusual for us here: beginning with the entrance, with stations equipped for unloading the weapons, which we carry around all the time, and ending with the waste bins cleaned with impressive regularity. Near the entrance, under the rays of germicidal ultraviolet lamps, there are washstands with liquid soap, alcohol disinfectants, and snow-white paper towels. Meanwhile, there are no facilities for washing tableware, obligatory for our army both under field conditions and in base camps. All the tableware and utensils are plastic and disposable. Everyone is issued a spoon, fork, knife, hygienic tissues, and salt and pepper, all packed in a neat polyethylene container. A menu with meals for two days in advance is posted on a special stand.

I recall as in the early days most of us stared in perplexity at the food counter trying to understand what was being served.

“Indeed, none of us had seen such menus before,” says Lt. Col. Tilipailo. “This is a completely different diet and tastes. A usual breakfast consist of an oatmeal, sausages, omelet or eggs to choose from, grated or fried potatoes, and hot drinks such as tea or coffee. On a special counter there are the invariable thee kinds of dry flakes, an assortment of juices, milk of various kinds, Cola, Sprite, and Fanta.”

In the beginning the assortment in Iraq was very limited, unlike that in Kuwait. An undeveloped system of food supplies and few staff members complicated matters. The logistics people had to trim the menu and issue US field rations.

“In general, norm is a very loose notion in the coalition forces. But the main principle remains unchanged — a person who has come to the mess hall has to eat one’s fill. One can eat as much as the body needs. At the same time, taking food outside is strictly forbidden. With four meals a day there is no need to stuff one’s pockets with snacks,” says Lt. Col. Tilipailo.

Representatives of the KBR and ESS food services frown upon the practice of giving water or food to people who have nothing to do with the military. Everything that is baked, stewed, brewed, and cooled in the kitchens is intended for the military personnel only. They have been paid for feeding every uniformed person. A soldier of any nationality can have a meal at any mess room and obtain field rations at any storehouse of the coalition forces.

There are few professional cooks among the service personnel. It includes two or three managers who walk around, show what should be done and how, and tell when to cook and serve the meals. The remaining staff members are hired from other countries. Most of them are Hindu. Instead of the white overalls we have in Ukraine, they wear plain pants and shirts. In addition, they are expected to wear disposable caps and gloves and strictly observe hygiene regulations. They are fired even for minor violations. Even though they periodically have to perform assorted chores, they all stick to their jobs. Yesterday someone peeled the vegetables, today he is serving food, and tomorrow he will clean the tables. They will do anything as long as it is paid labor.

BOILED BUCKWHEAT IS STILL A RARITY HERE

Our servicemen, who have been through hundreds of kitchen details, are surprised that the kitchens have no steam boilers or any other boilers for that matter. Convenience foods imported from Kuwait are extensively used in the preparation of meals. The food is thawed and heated in microwave ovens.

“We have put up with the absence of the usual soups,” says Lt. Col. Tilipailo. “Here is no such army norm as 500 grams of soup. Once on Independence Day the guys wanted their native borscht. As was to be expected, none of the ESS people could cook it. Our cooks told and showed them how to, but nowhere in Iraq could they find a single beet. The Americans tried to order it from Kuwait. But even there no one had ever seen one. Then the logistics department had canned beets delivered from Germany.”

The brigade command tries to change the menu on holidays. A week before the New Year, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Armed Forces Day we place our orders taking into account Ukrainian national cuisine. And while we have solved the borscht problem in Al-Qut, boiled buckwheat is still a rarity. Lt. Col. Tilipailo even treated them to a can of buckwheat from the Ukrainians’ field rations. They liked it, but nothing of the kind can be found here.

We are in turn amazed at the excess of fruits. Even though it is January, watermelons, plums, and peaches are on the menu, to which neither our soldiers’ eyes nor stomachs are accustomed.

Food supplies and rationing are strictly controlled. On entering, each soldier and officer checks in. Later the command calculates all the data and determines how many men had meals and at what times. Market research is performed to make forecasts and plans of what, when, and how much should be delivered. In a word, there is a scientific approach to everything.

There is also one more specific norm for supplies, which is used in the Ukrainian army only during special periods, that is, drinking water supplies. The norm of drinking water consumption in Iraq is six liters per person per day.

But water is a quite different but no less interesting subject to discuss with Lt. Col. Mykola Tilipailo.