Active-duty service members and veterans are not always known for their culinary skills. After all, many spend more time serving our country than serving up a gourmet dish.
But a traveling program called ‘Cowboy Kitchen’ is enlisting veterans from across the country, gathering them in one place to share their military stories with aprons, pots and pans as a way to connect through cooking and conversation.
“When you look at these soldiers and where they’ve been, or maybe they’re stationed somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, they’re cooking or eating generic meals just to get by. It’s rarely anything elaborate or fancy,” Kent Rollins, a nationally known chuck wagon cook and YouTube star, said in an interview with Military.com.
But when they can sit down and make meal from scratch with fresh ingredients, they realize it doesn’t take that long, and it’s not that hard to do. They realize, ‘now I can cook for me. I can cook for my family. I know how to do this.
Rollins has partnered with the nonprofit Veterans Equine Therapeutic Services (V.E.T.S.) for their Cowboy Kitchen program, which is billed as not just another cooking class, but a transformative journey where veterans get together and discover the joys of cooking under the guidance of expert chefs like Rollins.
Participants learn the art of making cast-iron dishes, with fresh, locally sourced ingredients culminating in a communal meal of food and friendship.
The Food ‘Almost Takes a Backseat’
“They have a recipe that they follow, but the food almost takes a backseat to the nourishment of the soul,” Rollins said. “The bond you make with other people, and then realize that you can accomplish something like making a delicious meal. It’s an experience that brings joy to these veterans one plate at a time.”
The program is led by a staff of volunteers who organize Cowboy Kitchen classes several times a year. They consider the experience a sanctuary for veterans to reconnect, find solace in shared experiences, and leave with more than just new culinary skills, but lifelong friendships.
“We’ve been helping veterans every chance we can get. But it’s really picked up in the last ten years when we can do different events across the United States,” Rollins said. “We want to bring awareness to the military community, thank them for their service and help with the needs they have now.”
Testimonials on the V.E.T.S. Cowboy Kitchen website describe the program as more than a homemade feast, but a place of healing from the trauma of active duty service or the struggles of the veteran community.
“Food tastes better when it’s seasoned with purpose, friendship, and fire,” Dan Price, a Cowboy Kitchen instructor, said. Cowboy Kitchen Founder Thor Torgersen added, “In the Cowboy Kitchen, every meal is a story of resilience, friendship, and shared purpose.”
Cooking Over an Open Fire
Rollins is also a personality for the Outdoor Channel and recently filmed an episode of his show, “Cast Iron Cowboy,” at a historic cattle ranch near Mystic, Conn.
As part of the shoot, veterans and active-duty service members had a day of cowboy cooking, horsemanship and camaraderie. Rollins led them in preparing a traditional meal over an open fire using locally raised Texas Longhorn beef and vegetables from local veteran-owned farms.
“We have a large YouTube following with seven million followers overall on all our social media platforms, and we shoot two to three videos a week plus this new series for the ‘Cast Iron Cowboy’ on the Outdoor Channel. That’s 8 episodes,” Rollins said. “There’s never a downtime for us. We work 12 months out of the year. But we are blessed to get to do what we do.”
Taking Cowboy Kitchen Across the Country
The schedule of Cowboy Kitchen classes reads like a roadmap. From Connecticut to New Mexico to Nebraska, the gatherings draw a cross-section of veterans, active-duty service members, first responders and even corrections officers who are looking for a therapeutic way to learn new culinary skills.
“I’ve listened to their stories, and I’ve helped people through this program for years,” Rollins said. “To be able to change a life, or maybe even save a life. That’s what these programs are for. To get these people out of dark times and bring them into good times.”
Why Kent Rollins Keeps Coming Back to Veterans
While Rollins has not served in the military, he has been a longtime supporter of the military community. For 12 years, he led a chuck wagon cook-off in Missouri benefiting veterans. He has cooked for service members at Tinker Air Force Base in Okla., and has hosted dozens of veterans at his Red River Ranch Chuck Wagon Cooking School.
Rollins said his heart for service members came from his own family.
“My dad was in the service, my grandpa, a lot of my kinfolks, back during World War I, World War II, even the Civil War. It’s something that I’ve always admired. We owe our service members more than we can ever give back.”
You can find more information on the V.E.T.S. Cowboy Kitchen program here.
Read the full article here