Wasp cook uses ingenuity to dazzle guests

Navy Supply Corps Newsletter, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Crystal M. Raner

Everyone needs to eat food. What makes the food enjoyable is when it becomes a meal.

Thirteen years ago Mess Management Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) George Fontanez would not have dreamed of serving as the commanding officer's cook on board USS Wasp. During the last three months, Fontanez relied on values his mother taught him as a young boy to provide a meal fit for a CO.

"My mom expected me to set the example for my four younger siblings," said Fontanez of Holyoke, Mass. "Most of all, she taught me how to be responsible. As the CO's cook, I work independently from the rest of the mess management specialists on board. Success or failure--it all falls on my shoulders."

Like most mess specialists aboard Wasp, Fontanez first served as a cook in the ship's galley, haggling over recipes and working his magic to provide three well-balanced meals to 1,100 Sailors. Prior to transferring the CO's mess, he was cooking for Wasp's full crew of 3,100 Sailors and Marines during the first two months of Wasp's current deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"As a crew's galley cook, it is difficult to create a masterpiece out of each dish," said the 34-year-old. "The best thing about cooking for one or several dinner guests is that you can experiment with different spices and seasonings. Also a galley MS might only have to prepare an entree, starch, or vegetable, but I have to plan out a whole meal."

According to CAPT Ed McNamee, Wasp's Commanding Officer, Fontanez is a very talented cook.

"What most impressed me is that I see him every day experimenting with new techniques and combinations of foods to see what works best," said McNamee, from Long, Island, N.Y. "He already has a reputation for making outstanding pizza and dinner rolls because he has been working on his baking techniques."

Fontanez's training started with learning the basics of what types of food complement each other. Much of what he has learned has come from dedication to doing the best job he can. Like a technician working on a piece of electrical equipment, he troubleshoots a recipe until he or his official taster, the CO, is satisfied with the product.

"I really look forward to his cheesy bread, a spicy bread roll with different cheeses in it," McNamee said. "The best thing he has made so far was a skillet fried grouper with Mediterranean spices. He did it without a recipe. He just thought it up and cooked it!"

According to Fontanez, the skipper is a lamb lover and easy to satisfy. His skills as a cook are most tested when the CO has a dinner party.

"When I have guests, which is about once a week, he prepares a formal dinner," McNamee said. "Sometimes I ask the guests to pick the meal, but if I pick it, my favorite is lamb. When it is cooked right, it's better than steak."

Fontanez looks forward to the dinner parties because he gets to do more than just cook.

"I plan everything, from presenting the appetizer to setting the table," said Fontanez, a 13-year Navy veteran. "I enjoy doing this because cooking isn't just a job to me. It is my way of life. It gives me a lot of job satisfaction when I see smiles and hear `oohs' and `ahhs' over what I have prepared."

After six months at sea, most Sailors and Marines are looking forward to a home-cooked meal. "I am extremely fortunate to have a wife who loves to cook and a ship's cook who is so talented," McNamee said. "I don't ask MS2 to make what my wife makes. What he does is completely different. On the other hand, I miss my wife's cooking, just like we all miss something from home right now."

Fontanez considers it a blessing to be fortunate enough to serve as the CO's cook. His greatest achievement was learning how to focus on mastering the culinary art of creating a meal instead of aiming to provide food fit to eat.