Country Life

Fairy cakes at the Front

ON June 14, 1982, 7,780 miles from home, the Argentinian forces surrendered Port Stanley to Maj-Gen Jeremy Moore, bringing an end to 74 gruelling days of bloody conflict. Across the Falklands, exhausted and broken men bedded down for some desperately needed rest, but one young private kept his boots on and set to work. To this day, no one is really sure where the soldier sourced the ingredients, says Col Philippe Rossiter, but, by the time the rest of his unit resurfaced, the young lad had made a big batch of fairy cakes.

To Col Rossiter, former head of the Army Catering College, that ‘beautiful image’ of fairy cakes after war captures the very essence of what food means in the Forces. ‘It’s little touches that army chefs have been

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