Cucina per 6 Ufficiali (Kitchen for six Officers)

Okay. So first off I'll admit that this isn't the likeliest of accessories for a partisan group...but it's just too handy and useful (not to mention period perfect and downright amazing) to let it be. It's a 75 pound, 12"x12"x30" box of aluminum and steel wonderment that provides the cooking and dining gear necessary to keep six Italian officers reasonably well-fed. All that's missing is a heat source and the food itself.

I purchased the kitchen in the photo in early August 2013 and it arrived in time to accompany us to Operation Mountain Victory at Ft. Carson, Colorado. As purchased, the box was sound but in poor cosmetic shape; it had been repainted multiple times and its proper stenciling was long gone. My research, such as it was, suggested that these cases were originally painted a medium brown, so I performed a quick restoration including making the stencil to re-label the face. Note that at some point, many of these sets were repainted green, but the area around the stenciling was left brown so as to not have to redo the lettering.

The contents are nothing short of amazing! There are five cooking vessels plus a coffee pot, containers for coffee, sugar, and salt, a small strainer, cheese grater, and bottles for oil and vinegar (the containers for salt and vinegar are glass lined to stave off corrosion). Add to that a complete set of cooking, cutting, and serving utensils including a corkscrew, old-school can opener, three salt-and-pepper shakers, and a beech cutting board. The place settings consist of six each plates, shallow bowls, coffee cups, drinking cups, knives, forks, and spoons (regular and demitasse), and six egg cups (soft-boiled eggs, anyone?) 85 pieces all told, and not counting the box or the legs!

Legs? Yep! If you empty the contents you'll find four legs that can be slipped into sockets in the four corners of the open box. Lift and flip the box, and voilà! a handy 24"x30" table. Oh, and the large pot - the one with the lid in the photo - has a built-in colander to help you extract the pasta without losing one strand of spaghetti. Had the Italians put this much thought into their armaments things might have turned out markedly different.




While continuing my online cucina research last fall, I came upon another set for sale at Archie McPhee in Seattle. Odd, because I'd been in the store the previous May and seen nothing of the kind (but their photos dated from January). While the exterior was again rough, not a piece (other than the tiny padlock) was missing and many of the pieces were wrapped in their original paper packing. Even better, all of the original flatware, serving spoon and fork, kitchen knives, and can opener were present - these had been replaced with generic pieces by a previous owner of my first set.

Oddly, the six demitasse spoons carry the inscription "E.I." on the back of their handles. This is most certainly the abbreviation for "Esercito Italiano," the official name of the postwar Italian Army. I can only surmise that these sets were retained in the postwar army's inventory and the demitasse spoons must have been added at a later date. Still, I have little doubt that this set existed during the war. The National WWII Museum has a well-provenanced Kitchen for 3 Officers in its collection, suggesting that these were common pieces of gear for the Royal Italian Army.