'Some of them call me mama': Grandmother of 6 cooks for SAF soldiers in 5th posting to Australia

SHOALWATER BAY, Australia — Bee Bee Jan Abdul Kadi has three children — a pair of 37-year-old twins and a 43-year-old.

But this grandmother of six had more "sons and daughters" celebrating her birthday when she turned 62 on August 29.

Bee Bee, a junior sous chef SATS Food Services, was at a military camp in Australia where she whipped dishes like nasi lemak, rendang and laksa for thousands of Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) soldiers then.

"I'm very close to all the army boys here. They are like my children," said Bee Bee, who was on her fifth posting in Australia. 

"When I come, year after year, sometimes I see the soldiers again, and they say, 'Hi, makcik (auntie in Malay), I miss your food.

"I'm very close to the army boys here. Some of them even call me mama here."

Bee Bee was speaking to reporters on Nov 11 evening in Camp Tilpal, a newly-built camp in the expanded Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) area which hosts the SAF, Australian Defence Force and other visiting troops for exercises.

These include Exercise Wallaby, the SAF's largest overseas exercise which ran for nine weeks this year.

The final phase, known as Exercise Trident, is a bilateral military exercise between Singapore and Australia conducted between Nov 6 and 15 this year.

Members of the media were given a tour of the camp's kitchen and dining hall, where Bee Bee and the other chefs were preparing dinner for the day — the much beloved "Wallaby" nasi lemak.

What makes the dish so popular? Bee Bee shared it is a "totally different" sambal paste made from a secret recipe. 

Other dishes such as mee soto and kambing (mutton) soup are warmly received by soldiers.

"The army boys here… they appreciate my cooking by giving me appreciation letters," said the cook.

"One officer bought me a wok. She gave it to me saying: 'You bring it back home so whenever you cook, you will think of me'."

'I cook with my heart'

Meals are served four times daily, between 4am to 8pm and up to 2,000 meals are served in a day, said Ewan Choo, SATS' operations head for its Primary Industries Queensland subsidiary.

The kitchen uses about 6,200 kg of seafood, 10,000 kg of poultry and vegetables each and 15,000 kg of fruit throughout the entire period of the military exercise, he added.

The SATS team starts planning about three months ahead of Exercise Wallaby, said Choo.

While most of the ingredients are sourced in Australia, his company prepares retort sauces, such as laksa and rendang, in Singapore.

Besides giving the dishes consistency when cooking for thousands of people, the ready-to-cook condiments give soldiers a "home away from home" during mealtimes, said Choo.

For Bee Bee, who works for up to 16 hours a day, there is another secret ingredient that she brought along with her from home.

"Whatever the boys request, we try to give them," she said. "I cook with my heart to serve them."

[[nid:709475]]

chingshijie@asiaone.com