AFTER taking on the school meal and the plight of the chicken Jamie Oliver has been urged by Prince Harry to embark on his toughest mission yet: the state of army rations, write Jon Ungoed-Thomas and John Bingham.

Prince Harry returned yesterday from Afghanistan clearly unbowed by the threat of serious injury, kidnapping or death from a Taliban attack. But he admitted that sinking, defeated feeling when faced with some of the dismal army food.

Harry said: “Rations are miserable. I’ve been on rations now for, I can’t remember how long. The guys here [in Afghanistan] have been on rations even longer than I have. They’re fed-up with it.”

Responding to the suggestion that Jamie Oliver could be drafted in to help boost morale with some ration recipes, he said: “Yeah, Jamie, please. Bangers and mash with gravy, in a bag, would be brilliant. I don’t think you can screw that up. I’m sure someone would manage to, but bangers and mash with gravy in a bag would be awesome.”

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Harry, who typically prefers Big Macs, spent weeks living on rations while operating around Musa Qala, the former Taliban stronghold. “There are people out in the villages who have got less stuff than us, so I suppose we should be happy with a corned beef hash,” he said.

The prince has, however, broadened his culinary experiences in Afghanistan – eating goat curry with a unit of Gurkhas. “Everyone is well looked after here by the Gurkhas, the food is fantastic – goat curries, chicken curries . . . it’s good fun.”

The Gurkhas praised Harry for his good manners, noting how he would visit the camp kitchen after every meal to thank the cook. “We are very lucky to have a prince on our team working with us,” said Captain Yambahadur Rana. “He’s getting on very well with our boys. He has even started learning a few Gurkha words.”

The prince’s culinary experiences were broadened further when he join Fijian troops on manoeuvres in the Afghan desert. Their rudimentary breakfast entailed blending butter and jam in a tub and then spreading it on a wholemeal biscuit.

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