Sing 'we'll eat again' as Dame Vera dishes up food to heroes

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 23:11

DAME Vera Lynn and Prime Minister Gordon Brown are among the celebrities and politicians who have contributed recipes to a new Armed Forces cook book.

The team behind Food for Heroes asked 100 people – including veterans of every major UK conflict since the First World War – to nominate their heroes and the dish they would like to make them.

The aim of the book, launched to mark tomorrow's first national Armed Forces Day, aims to raise money for wounded British servicemen and women.

Other contributors include actors Ewan McGregor and Dame Judi Dench.

Mr Brown said he would make a hearty Chequers steak pie for Eric Liddell, the Scottish athlete portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire.

His predecessor as prime minister, Tony Blair, picked Mahatma Gandhi as his hero for his "timeless guidance" on universal values for all mankind.

Mr Blair said that he would make Gandhi – a pacifist who famously went on hunger strike in protest at British rule in India – a light lunch of stuffed flat field mushrooms with a tomato and tarragon sauce.

First World War veteran Harry Patch, 111, the last surviving Tommy, said his hero was the Unknown German Soldier.

He said: "I remember my school chums who went to war and didn't return.

"I remember the three members of my Lewis Gun Team … I remember that brave German soldier.

"They were my real heroes. For 90 years I've paid respect to them 'at the going down of the sun, and in the morning'."

The Food for Heroes chefs created a sweet version of the traditional Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Pie – with apples and kiwi fruit replacing Bully Beef – in Mr Patch's honour.

Recipes were also contributed by senior military leaders, including the head of the Armed Forces, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, who said he would make a "quintessentially British" Pickwick pie for his hero, Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

Sir Jock said Caesar, who led the first Roman invasion of Britain in 55BC, displayed "outstanding generalship and superb leadership qualities".

"He also understood that lasting solutions in the territories over which he fought required political settlement as well as military success – a lesson that has great resonance today," he wrote.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, submitted a family favourite recipe, Viscount Slim's cold chicken in a curried mayonnaise.

He said he would follow it with strawberries and cream, noting that this would "remind any hero of home".

SAS soldier-turned-author Andy McNab revealed that his hero was pioneering Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton. He wrote: "I would love to cook him dinner. I reckon I would cook him the world's hottest chicken curry, and I think he would have been gagging for it."

Dame Vera, the original Forces' Sweetheart, selected "our brave serving men and women" to serve her chicken or turkey boobs recipe.

TV presenter and actor Ross Kemp, who has made TV programmes about the British Forces abroad, said he would make a fresh fruit salad with chocolate chip ice cream for his heroes, the British Armed Forces.

Entertainer Bruce Forsyth nominated Sir Winston Churchill and said he would cook him Forsyth's steak Dijon, as formerly served at the Wig and Pen Club in London.

Conservative leader David Cameron chose to cook a slow roast shoulder of lamb for Lance-Corporal Johnson Beharry, who received the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery in Iraq.

His Liberal Democrat counterpart, Nick Clegg, said he would serve mint lamb chops with roasted shallots and spinach mash to Victorian engineering genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Profits from sales of the cookbook will go to the charity Help For Heroes, which supports wounded service personnel.

Yesterday's launch was held at London's Potter's Field Park.

&#149 Food For Heroes is out now, priced 14.99.

GORDON Brown said he would make a Chequers steak pie for Eric Liddell, the Scottish athlete portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire.

Liddell, who later became a missionary, gave up the chance to win a 100m medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics by refusing to run on a Sunday, but won gold and set a world record in the 400m.

The Prime Minister said: "He gained his sporting fame at Edinburgh University, and if the food was the same as it was in my days there, he would have approved of hearty fare like the Chequers pie. But to my mind, it was through his lesser-known exploits after leaving Edinburgh that he truly proved himself a hero."

EWAN McGregor chose Mum's Beef and Guinness Casserole for his hero, James Stewart.

He said: "Jimmy Stewart was an American film and stage actor best known for his unpretentious persona.

"He starred in many films now widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one, and also received a Lifetime Achievement Award. What many don't know is that he also had a noted military career."

DAME Judi Dench said she would cook for her hero, Nelson Mandela, a goats cheese and red onion tart on mixed leaves with a balsamic reduction.

She said: "After 27 years in prison, he remains an incredibly dignified man who continues to devote his life to his ideals. His leadership in advocating forgiveness through reconciliation is respected throughout the world. I cannot think of anyone who deserves the accolade 'Hero' more."