United StatesSpecial Operation Command is looking for butchers and cooks who can teach how to slaughter livestock, then prepare a meal.
It wants its commandos to learn to prepare an "Afghan meal cooked in the style and presentation that would be expected by local village elders", according to procurement documents. The documents do not detail why the soldiers will be taught to cook, but special forces teams in Afghanistan frequently live among remote villages where they raise and train local defence forces to resist the Taliban.
Sharing cups of green tea, meals and hospitality with locals has long been considered critical to Nato's "hearts and minds" counter insurgency campaign.However such events often highlight the gulf between those from American or European cities and villagers whose life has changed little in centuries.
Shared meals can see soldiers, diplomats and officials pushing hunks of meat and offal around their plate and picking at mountains of rice for fear of food poisoning. Afghan villagers are in turn rarely won over by Sloppy Joes, enchiladas and beef brisket found in army ration packs.
The three-day Afghanistan Cooking Techniques course will teach up to 132 soldiers in bases including Fort Lewis, Eglin Air Force Base and Fort Bragg. Pupils will learn to slaughter cattle, sheep and goats according to Islamic principles and "how to process and cure meats and vegetables in a culturally sensitive environment".
As well as cooking, they will be taught to identify cuts of meat, how to preserve animal hides and cooked materials, and even how to bake bread from raw wheat kernels. All cooking will be done with "indigenous cooking equipment". The trainee chefs will finish the course with a written test.
Afghan menu:
- Kabuli Pulao – steamed rice cooked with lamb, carrots and raisins.
- Vegetables – spinach and okra
- Salad – Tomato, onion and cucumber
- Bread
- Yogurt
- Fruit – melon and watermelon
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