The Kilkenny Great War Memorial Committee invites you to join them at the Kilkenny Great War Memorial at the Peace Park on the banks of the River Nore, on Sunday 8th December 2024 at 7pm.
The evening will include a demonstration of the preparation, cooking and issuing of a typical trench meal from the Great War.
Favourite chef
Anyone who watches daytime TV can be certain that a lot of the programming will include cookery advice, demonstration and tips. As a nation we seem to be obsessed with what dishes we need to serve up and how best we should prepare them. Nothing wrong with that of course. And there are a number of Irish chefs who appear on our screens who are the best in the world. Names like Nevin McGuire, Darina Allen, Kevin Dundon and of course Kilkenny’s Edward Hayden. One man who hasn’t, as of yet, appeared on our screens displaying his culinary skills is retired army Commandant, Larry Scallan.
Basic but filling
Larry will don the proverbial chefs hat, and show what food was dished up in the trenches in WW1. Not alone will he show the food, but he will prepare it in front of your very eyes. If luck is on your side, you may even get to share some of the food that men and women ate in the trenches in places such as the Somme. During that period, army food was basic but filling. Each soldier could expect around 4,000 calories a day with tinned rations and hard biscuits. Their diet also included vegetables, bread and jam and boiled plum puddings.
To keep these rations fresh and edible, the government shipped most perishable food in tin cans. The process of canning was around for about a century, but the demand for low-cost, high-calorie, portable, and durable meals found a dramatic increase in the kinds of food that could be canned, including ravioli and spaghetti by the Italian army and coq au vin and boeuf Bourguignon by the French.
Christmas truce
A demonstration of the preparation, cooking and issuing of a typical trench meal from the Great War will take place on Sunday 8th December 2024 at 7pm. There will be limited cover from the weather so please wear appropriate clothing for this mostly outdoor event.
During The Great War, the possibility of extended periods of occupying front line trenches was only made possible by the development of canned and preserved food products. This demonstration will explain some of the major logistical issues faced, keeping an ever increasing army in the field.
Also discussed will be the facts around the Christmas truce in 1914, which occurred one hundred and ten years ago. There will be a mock trench, sing song and a ‘kids try the uniform on’ section.
The Kilkenny Great War Memorial committee are asking that you help to remember and share life in a trench for one hour.
