Grenades & gravy: an ethnographic study of food in the canadian forces

The importance of feeding soldiers is frequently evoked using Napoleon’s oft-quoted aphorism, “an army marches on its stomach”. While the biological necessity of fueling troops is well documented there remain many questions about the social aspects of military feeding and the individuals who produce it. This study’s aim is to explore the social aspects of soldier cooks and military food at CFB Wainwright using ethnographic methods: observation, participant-observation, and interviews. Drawing from the data I collected while living on base, I explore military feeding and the experience of soldier cooks with respect to the formal, front stage and informal, back stage areas. A theoretical focus of the study is the intersection of military food, the physical senses, and troop morale using the concept of ‘sensory models’. The goal of the study was to present and explore military feeding and the soldier cooks’ experience of their position in the CF.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Anthropology

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Esau, Matthew

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mather, Charles

• Anthropology--Cultural

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/26324

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/192