WHILE tucking into a sumptuous Christmas meal the last thing we ever think about is the preparation that went into those culinary delights.

The kitchen staff of St. Brendan's Hospital had been hard at work for almost a month before Christmas Day preparing everything from the assorted cakes and mouth-watering desserts to preparing hundreds of meals on a daily basis.

The was granted a sneak peek into the daily routine performed by the hospital's kitchen staff. The meal preparation is divided into two shifts. The staffers start their day, which runs from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., while the late shift runs from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

Those who boast of their culinary wizardry would find themselves hard pressed to maintain a daily routine of preparing dozens of meals within a specific time and repeat the same routine the following day.

I had to step gingerly as the morning staff was preparing one of the series of holiday meals for the roughly 100 clients currently at the hospital. By the time we arrived at the kitchen lunch preparation was well under way as Melody Augustus was preparing meat sauce in one of large kettle pots.

Jamel Dill and morning cook Linda Vickers were preparing a succulent turkey that was destined for the oven. In spite of the hectic pace, Dill was upbeat: "I've been here for 18 months and I love it here. After work I went home to prepare my own turkey!"

Many of the cakes, pies and puddings are prepared some three weeks in advance and put in cold storage. According to kitchen staff supervisor Colleen Smith, the aforementioned would come out of the the freezer about two days before Christmas and the main bulk of the food preparation was done on Christmas Eve.

Some seven pies ? six were prepared with chicken and one done vegetarian style ? were prepared in addition to five "slabs" of marble, fruit, plain and cherry nut cakes respectively. Each slab weighs around three three pounds and almost 50 pounds of Christmas pudding was prepared along with the variety of cakes.

Hurricane Fabian's onslaught in early September did little to dampen the holiday cheer of the staffers as they substituted the traditional sweet potatoes for yams to add to the holiday meals. The clients were treated to a traditional turkey meal on Christmas Day and on Boxing Day they were served another holiday meal with ham.

It was nothing short of mind-boggling how this well-oiled team of porters, cooks and cafeteria staff functioned.

The clients are usually served on their respective wards but on Christmas Day the cafeteria was a hive of activity as the clients were served their meals in a more formal setting. The nursing staff also pitched in to bring the clients from the wards to enjoy the sit-down meal. It was the traditional Christmas breakfast served on trays, according to Colleen.

For the past 32 years Colleen has risen through the ranks, first as a general worker at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital as a short order cook for 22 years before joining the staff at St. Brendan's and has been part of the behind-the-scenes workers for the past decade.

"I truly like my job and I have worked my way up the ranks and I am familiar with food preparation, so this is something that I truly enjoy doing," she told me.

team player, Colleen gushed about the efficiency of her staff and explained how smoothly the operation works. The breakfast portion of the line runs from about 7.45 a.m.- 8 a.m. while the lunchtime segment runs from 11.15 a.m. - 11.45 a.m. There is one serving station for vegetables and one for the meat with five people at each with a supervisor.

Just watching these dedicated individuals working as a cohesive unit was definitely food for thought. While people read about the benevolence of the pillars of the community, workers such as St. Brendan's Kitchen and Cafeteria Staff often go by unnoticed.