Homefront Cooking

An intersection of three inseparable features of military life: stories, family, and food.

Food brings families and friends together, providing not only nourishment for our bodies, but also the glue that holds our families and society together. It is around the dinner table that we interact and important announcements are made—it was chow time in the foxholes when soldiers came to know each other, forming bonds so strong they would risk their own lives for one another. Remembering the smells and tastes of home support many in difficult times, those memories captured here in photographs and recipes.

Home Front Cooking brings you a collection of treasured family recipes and photographs from military service members past and present, and their loved ones. Recipes are accompanied by brief stories and memories related to the recipe, military service, and/or lifestyle.

The stories range from anecdotes passed down from great-great grandfathers who served in the American Civil War, to tales of terrified family members caught in a foreign country when John F. Kennedy was shot, to the stories of service members serving in Afghanistan and Iraq today. Many are heartwarming, some are humorous, most are bittersweet. All are written with a sense of pride and passion, and offer a glimpse of a lifestyle that is as unique as it is challenging.

All authors’ profits will be donated to a charitable organization in support of veterans.

Tracey Enerson Wood is a playwright, screenwriter, and novelist from a multi-generational military family. She has authored magazine columns and other nonfiction for publications serving the military and military families, and written and directed plays of various lengths. She served as an active duty spouse for many years, working for military health and support services both professionally as a Registered Nurse, and as a volunteer.