A PROUD Suffolk mum has told of how her army son is spending his spare time teaching Bosnian students how to cook English food.Margaret Wood's son Gavin is an army chef working in Bosnia and he has volunteered to show 180 of the local students the delights of the English cuisine.

A PROUD Suffolk mum has told of how her army son is spending his spare time teaching Bosnian students how to cook English food.

Margaret Wood's son Gavin is an army chef working in Bosnia and he has volunteered to show 180 of the local students the delights of the English cuisine.

Mrs Wood, of Dovedale, Felixstowe said: "He enjoys teaching and it puts a more human face on what they do out there. It's not just guns and vehicles - catering does come in to it."

Mr Wood, a former Orwell High school pupil, will be showing the students of the Banja Luka catering college, in Bosnia, how to cook a three-course English meal. To start they will have to master pan-fried prawns with a chilli coleslaw, then the main meal will be beef fillet served with potatoes, cabbage, leeks and a rich gravy and for dessert there is banana and rhubarb crumble with custard.

"He wants to give them a broad insight in to what they do with food," said Mrs Wood. She added that Bosnian food tends to be cooked so that it is much softer than English food.

Mr Wood was first approached by a local baker, who made bread for the army. He suggested that Mr Wood went to the college to talk to the students but the chef decided to go one step further and set out to teach all 180 of the students.

He will be providing a number of the students with a once-in-a-lifetime experience as many families in Bosnia do not have enough money to send their children abroad to learn different cuisines.

Mr Wood, who is stationed at Grantham, Lincolnshire, where his wife and three children live, is a regimental catering senior non-commissioned officer.

He is in charge of a number of kitchens at the British base in Bosnia, where soldiers are on a peace-keeping mission.

He started to train to be a chef when he was 16 and has since been to the Gulf, the Falklands and Kosovo.

But Mr Wood has also been always been involved in helping and raising money for people in the war-torn countries when he returns home as he had previously raised money for orphans and for first aid kits to be made available.