A BOLTON RAF chef in Kuwait says he was astonished to discover he had made national news headlines after a fellow airman complained about the lack of chips on the service menu.

But Flt Lt Andy Potts, aged 32, from Heaton, reckons the papers back home got it all wrong when they reported that the Brits were being starved of their favourite food - CHIPS.

Some daily tabloids reported that the Mobile Catering Support Unit in Kuwait had no spuds.

But Andy was keen to point out that a scarcity of chips on the menu had nothing to do with a potato shortage.

He said they had had plenty of spuds since they arrived at the Ali Al Salem air base.

"Preparing chips is very labour intensive and we hadn't the manpower to put someone on chip-cutting duties all day," said Andy.

Andy, who went to Smithills Grammar School, was commanding officer of the MCSU team deployed to support officers mustered to enforce Saddam Hussein's weapons inspections, says he can now see the funny side of it all.

He explained what he found when he arrived in the Kuwait airbase.

"We were working with local rations, the food that the Bangladeshi chefs provided for the Kuwaitis. It's fine, but it was very limited, mainly curry, pasta and rice, so we put in a request, through the Kuwaitis, for more British-type food. They were very helpful and said 'Fine, it's no problem.' "

Now, after just two weeks in Kuwait, Mohammad Akram, chief chef at the base who now works alongside Andy in the kitchens, says he is very happy with the British cooks and soldiers.

Meal-times are important to the servicemen working long hours in the dry, remote Ali Al Salem spot, 60 kilometres from the Iraqi border, and Andy has noticed an improvement in the troops' morale, especially since beef was introduced into the menu.

"When we first arrived we went into Kuwait City and found a meat market in one of the suburbs - rows of butchers' shops with lamb and chicken but no beef.

"Then we came up with one that had whole carcases of beef."

Andy and his catering team will continue for some time yet to service the two-dining-room base, keeping hundreds of hungry troops well-fed and happy.

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