Culinary Myths and Battlefields

He slept at a folded military camp bed, even in times of peace. He never slept long any way; he even considered spending time in bed as a waste (except for reasons other than sleeping, but that is another story) and always woke up at daybreak. Considering that he led some 60 battles, there is no wonder that his campaign bed was his comfort zone.  

I cannot help remembering the Duke of Wellington as I step into the Brussels airport to visit the region of Wallonia for the commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo. Poppies hang along the walkway; a long corridor leading to the passport line is flanked with scenes from the Flanders Fields of World War I. Europe and Belgium are remembering two devastating wars of their past: the centennial of the Napoleonic Wars, its commemoration intertwined with the remembrance of World War I, which happened a century later. 

Arthur Wellesley, titled as the 1st Duke of Wellington, is inevitably the foremost historic figure to recall, along with Napoleon, when remembering the campaign of Waterloo. He is the great commander of the Anglo-allied forces that defeated Napoleon in Waterloo, now in the Wallonia region of Belgium. Wellesley was a man of endurance. He would expect his army to rise very early while still dark and start marching at daybreak. He himself usually ate only twice a day, breakfast and dinner, and was content sustaining on cold meat and bread. He surely denied comforts of life, stayed attached to his campaign bed at warzone even in peacetime, but had a weak spot for quality wine; whenever possible, he enjoyed a whole bottle of good wine to accompany his humble cold cuts of meat and plain bread. In the case of battle of Salamanca in southern Spain, just before starting the final battle, he was said to be...