Operation Spamalot: After Taliban hit supplies, Army chef serves up 42 days of Spam

By Luke Salkeld, Daily Mail

Being at the front line of a war zone brings countless hardships.

But Britain's brave Armed Forces are justly famous for their resourcefulness in times of adversity.

And one heroic figure surely deserves a medal for maintaining morale in Afghanistan among the soldiers of the 2nd Royal Welsh Guards - on a 42-day diet of Spam.

Army chef Corporal Liam Francis refused to surrender when food supplies were interrupted by Taliban fighters for six weeks.

With almost no gastronomic ammunition to hand, the 26-year-old opened tin after tin of the chopped pork and ham and produced a series of dishes to rival the famous Monty Python Spam sketch.

'I was surprised what we could do: Sweet and sour Spam, Spam fritters, Spam carbonara, Spam stroganoff and Spam stir fry,' said the father of one from Tidworth, Wiltshire.

'We were on compo [field rations] for six weeks and we only had one menu - Spam.'

But he added that the troops were relieved when fresh supplies finally arrived. 'The first day off Spam, I prepared battered sausages, chips and curry sauce,' he said. 'The Sergeant Major said it was the best meal he had ever had.'

Corporal Francis, who serves as a Royal Logistics Corp chef attached to the 2nd Royal Welsh Guards, began his tour of Afghanistan in July.

He was forced into emergency action at the Forward Operating Base in Sangin when Taliban fighters shot down a civilian supply helicopter the day before he arrived, leaving him without the usual beef burgers, chicken, sausages and fish and chips.

Yesterday his proud mother Pat, 65, from Bristol, said of her married son: 'I was amazed when I heard the story about serving the troops using nothing but Spam because he hates the stuff.

'He would never have eaten it if I'd served it to him, that's for sure.'

For the full article along with coooking suggestions for Spam and clips from Monty Python click here

Combat chef cooking on gas

Meet 23-year old LCpl Stevie Allan. He's a combat chef with an impressive array of awards to his name, including Scottish Junior Chef of the Year.

LCpl Allan has just arrived at the Forward Operating Base at Wishtan, Helmand, where he'll be working in a brand new, winterised cookhouse. The new kitchen has been named 'The Jordan Rossi Cookhouse', after Sapper Jordan Rossi who was tragically killed by an improvised explosive device while on patrol nearby in May. It's a much-needed improvement, offering greater space and better appliances - essential for feeding over a hundred soldiers three times a day.

A trained soldier as well as a chef, he spent parts of his pre-deployment training as a member of an Infantry platoon, and is trained to handle the full range of Infantry weapons, from the pistol to the Grenade Machine Gun.

He said: "One minute you can be in the kitchen cooking, the next you can be in a Sangar firing at insurgents, or be sent to an isolated Patrol Base. You just never know."

When he gets home in April, LCpl Allan hopes to get a new car and take a well earned holiday, before having a crack at the notoriously difficult Commando Course in Devon. In the meantime, he's planning culinary feasts for the coming months. Tinned rations may be hard to glamorize, but he plans to put in a big effort for Christmas and, of course, Burns Night - complete with haggis!