11. Koket

Before 1880, all food for the conscripts was cooked in outdoor cooking pits. A map from the 1870s shows five large and two smaller cooking pits.

Cooks, conscripts and officers constantly complained that the food had to be cooked in these pits as the smoke from the fire often caused great inconvenience to the cooks. But that was not all: When the wind blew, sand and dust swirled up and mixed with the pots and pans, and it wasn't much fun to cook outside in the rain and sleet.

There were no tables or benches where the conscripts could sit and eat their meals. They therefore sought out a suitable and sheltered place with their pots and pans.

Menu from 1894 Breakfast: Spickened herring, potatoes, anchor stock and a cup of milk. Dinner: Peas and pork, every other day meat soup or slurry, anchor stock and a measure of weak drink. Evening meal: Barley porridge, milk, anchor stock and a dab of margarine.