Canada takes home silver in US Army Annual Culinary Exercise

Canadian Armed Forces’ team, composed of three carefully selected members, won silver in the International Team Challenge at the 43rd US Army Annual Joint Culinary Training Exercise in Fort Lee on March 15th.

Corporal Melissa Miller (19 Wing, Comox), Corporal Jordan Hoare (Canadian Special Operations Training Centre, Petawawa), and Leading Seaman Dustin Vickers (CFB Halifax) were all nominated by their units to the position and participated in a full week training session in Borden, Ontario, before the event.

Cpl Miller noted, “We trained really hard, twice a day, 4-hours at a time, in replicating the competition context and perfecting our techniques; making sure we were using proper techniques and terms as well as following the rules of the competition.”

Based on the concept of the popular TV Show “Iron Chef,” the team was presented with a basket of mystery ingredients and allowed four hours to plan, cook and serve a four-course meal composed of an appetizer, soup, main course meal, and dessert.

“We trained with mystery baskets of 20-25 ingredients, in Borden, while we were presented with a basket of 15 in Fort Lee. That eased a lot of the stress away for us,” added Cpl Miller.

She hopes to be a part of the competing team again next year. “If I have a chance to go, I would love to be a part of it again. Otherwise, I hope to be allowed to help prepare and coach the next team,” she said.

The Gold medal was awarded to Germany while the USA took Bronze. Other competing countries were France and Great Britain.