In the early twenties’ each counselor brought a white enamel pitcher of milk and a plate of graham crackers to the hut. “—for it was a long time between meals and we were hungry by then. This helped us to hold off starvation overnight,” said Harriet Crumb.
Her friend Meg Dahlem remembered the hot chocolate in the morning and buscuits and butter with maple syrup as a treat. “They had good food three times a day and we ate a lot of beef, mashed potatoes and my favorite—raspberry pie,” said Meg.
The kitchen staff, and food in general, were an important component of camp life. Great care was taken to find the right staff, spend wisely and cook nutritiously for the campers and staff. In 1936, there were hints that local businesses were not happy with the amount of provisions that were purchased out of the local area, and buying in bulk from larger distributors was a common practice.
In 1943 Adelaide Macaulay left notes in a camp season report in the archives, referencing a Miss McCullough, who was affectionately nicknamed Mac, and served as the camp hostess. “I think the title is misleading—it should be housekeeper, for that is what it proved to be, and is far from an easy one. The duties start early in the morning and aren’t over until the last child has been served crackers and milk at bedtime.”
“This year was especially hard, because of the food situation, but we had exceptionally good meals, and in quantities so there was always enough for second and third servings. One Bay City mother of two girls who were given a reduction of $56 off her bill, has done a lot of criticizing, said her children did not get enough to eat, Mac was no good at her job and a lot of this kind of bunk.”
They weighed one of the children at the end of the first two weeks and she had gained five pounds! Miss Macauley noted that parents always had food complaints, and some years were justified, but this summer had not been one of them. Mac had served 23,836 meals, which included cakes, cookies and pies and the cooks were considered “treasures”, were clean and managed the budget.
Marsha Immerman (1947-53) loved the food and to this day when she smells burnt toast, it reminds her of camp. “I also loved to get those little boxes of Wheaties, because they were my favorite, but when some of my fellow campers found out, they would grab them. The girls in the kitchen were always singing and we were singing before, during and after our meals. We had a song we used to sing to the cook we called “Cookie”. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was chipped beef on toast and my Mother complaining to the “Y” that the variety of food wasn’t good. They told her it was because I was there all summer!”
Marshha’s father owned Immerman’s Super Markets, so the summer she turned twelve he drove up and brought steak for everyone and the girls sang, “For She’s A Jolly Good Fellow”, which she said was sweet of him, but embarrassed her so much.
“I don’t think I liked lunch or dinner, but I loved breakfast,” admitted Dana Foote (1974-77). “There was toast just dripping in butter. I mean it was wet with butter. My Mom would have never let us have fattening or greasy food, but I would eat five pieces of that toast! And there was the BUG Juice, which I am sure was Hawaiian Punch.”
“I wasn’t a fussy eater,” said Jan Bateson (1951-52), “ I can still smell the bacon-y, syrup-y, pancake smell of breakfast in the lodge and whenever I smell it, it reminds me of Maqua.” Jan also had visions of aluminum pitchers lined up with milk and orange juice.
Julie Bernard (1977-78) also had pancake memories from the lodge and although she had no bad food memories, the food was reminiscent of cafeteria food.
And what was the fascination with the little cereal boxes? Tally Cone (1960-65) could not get over the idea of pouring the milk directly into the box. Ilene Zacher (1959-62) thought it was cool to have a cereal selection, but Kimela Peck (1966-74) never stopped loving the little boxes and still takes them on her camping trips.
What did you think of the camp food?
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