Firefighters from Mexico march along a fire guard as they battle wildfires near Vanderhoof, B.C..JESSE WINTER/Reuters
Perogies with sauerkraut have been hit-or-miss with firefighters from Australia and South Africa battling blazes in northern Alberta. Poutine has likewise not always been eaten with gusto. But cheeseburgers and vanilla ice cream seem to be crowd-pleasers.
In British Columbia, a group of Canadian firefighters didn’t love Brussels sprouts. But the Brazilians absolutely did.
Being a chef at a remote fire camp this summer has meant feeding crews from around the world, who have come to Canada to battle some of the worst wildfires this country has ever seen. Cooking up a mix of dishes that will satisfy them all takes plenty of hours, plenty of skill and plenty of trial and error.
Kyla Rever, the head chef at the Basset Complex camp, near High Level in Alberta, runs an industrial kitchen that serves food cafeteria-style to firefighters who live out of the 84-room facility while stationed in the area.
“We kind of gauge the first two or three nights of how they’re eating,” Ms. Rever said. “Like, one crew would not eat rice. And then we have a crew right now that, if we have a potato, they walk past that potato every time. We’ve done mashed potatoes. We’ve done steamed baby potatoes with some fresh dill, and those are failing.”
Several provinces have requested backup from internationally trained firefighters to help local crews deal with the unprecedented scale of this season’s wildfires. British Columbia alone has asked for 1,000 reinforcements, and recruits have come from Brazil, Mexico, Australia and the United States, among other places.
The South Africans made a memorable entrance in Edmonton when they arrived in Alberta last month. Firefighters from South Korea, France and the Dominican Republic have also been fighting fires in Canada.
On Thursday, Ms. Rever’s team served pasta to a South African crew, hoping it would go over well. It was a success. “We found their comfort food,” Ms. Rever said.
Smoke suffocates the sky near the Basset Complex camp, and ash falls on occasion, reminding kitchen workers of the dangers nearby, Ms. Rever said. But the kitchen keeps working through it all, because firefighters can’t do their jobs if they can’t eat. The number of mouths to feed each day varies, but has been as high as 165 when crews have overlapped.
David Tucker is currently cooking for about 200 firefighters at the Gillies Complex camp, in British Columbia’s Cariboo Fire Centre. About 120 of them are from Brazil. Before this, he served at a camp near Mackenzie, where the largest international contingent was Mexicans.
Some dishes have been more favourable to international firefighters than others, but foods such as cheeseburgers and vanilla ice cream have been a hit.Supplied
Mr. Tucker’s strategy for cooking for a large group with varying tastes is keeping the food delicious but “definitely humble and simple.”
He said the B.C. government requires each meal to have two kinds of vegetables, two kinds of salads, a protein and a starch. Other than that, it’s up to the chef.
With so many nationalities and languages in the camps, both chefs have to rely on cues, rather than words of praise, to gauge whether a meal is a hit. Mr. Tucker said he knows a dish is well loved when firefighters come through for seconds. On Thursday evening, it was his carne asada that kept them coming back.
Ms. Rever said her team hasn’t tried cooking dishes local to Australia and South Africa, for fear of missing the mark. But she has learned the Australians can’t do without a piece of home. Vegemite, a salty, dark brown spread usually smeared on toast or sandwiches, has come to the camp through donations, and has put smiles on the faces of the travelling crew, she said.
She remembers one dinner service where a 28-person crew from South Africa went through 44 litres of vanilla ice cream in one sitting. Her crew put out pail after pail of the stuff in amazement.
“It was just vanilla. Boring vanilla. But they just absolutely loved it,” Ms. Rever said. “They were just so happy, and it was nice to watch them.”
Kyla Rever, right, is with her niece Ariel, both of whom have been at the camp since it opened in mid-June.Supplied
Ms. Rever’s team has served dishes such as spaghetti and meat sauce, braised beef ribs, ham and scalloped potatoes – even a classic turkey dinner. For breakfast, the fare is traditional: pancakes, bacon, sausage, hash browns, eggs, French toast, fruit and bagels. Lunch is takeaway sandwiches and snacks, or hot plates like pizza bread, chicken fingers or Philly cheesesteaks.
But many members of the fire crews seem to take particular delight in the desserts baked in-house, which have included fresh chocolate chip cookies, strawberry shortcake, cinnamon buns, cream pies, poppyseed cake and black forest muffins.
The hours for the chefs are gruelling. Ms. Rever and Mr. Tucker’s teams arrive between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and they stay until after sundown. Mr. Tucker tries to grab a nap at some point during the day.
He has also been trying to learn a word or two in Portuguese and Spanish, so he can communicate with some of his diners. On Thursday evening, for the first time, his chefs wrote menus in both Portuguese and English, which pleased the Brazilians.
“I think that makes them feel welcomed,” Mr. Tucker said.
He thinks of it as a small act of appreciation for a group of people who are making a difference at a difficult time in Canada. “I think I just would like people that I share this country with to understand the sacrifice that other people are making,” he said.