1970’s

I Wasn’t A Picky Eater, But—-

Published on by Kathy Baker

“I grew up eating everything, but there was one counselor who always made us take a “no thank you helping”, said Jan Mosier (1947-52).  “Early on there was skim milk and pasteurized milk that gave me the shivers, and I could not stand cottage cheese or raisins. I objected to eating it, but I remember holding my nose, putting it in my mouth and shoving a piece of bread in to help with the taste. Of course, I could still taste it. To this day I still don’t eat them. My daughter always teases me by saying, “Mom, I’m going to the store. Do you want any cottage cheese or raisins?”

“The food at camp was awful,” laughed Laurie Cone (1962-68). “Casseroles with noodles, which I guess you had to cook to feed the big groups of girls. To this day, I cannot gag down a tuna noodle casserole! But, I thought it was “the bomb” to have hot dog and hamburger cook-outs.”

Two self-admitted picky eaters were Valerie Monto (1964-68) and Jeri Smith (1965). Valerie always had snacks inbetween meals, but the only time she could get them was her excursion to the camp store. Jeri was not a fruit and veggie girl, and although she loved breakfast, she hated dinner. “I was always hungry and I think they felt sorry for me because I didn’t eat, so they let me have peanut butter and jelly.”

Kim Wynne-Parry (1963-68) always loved breakfast the best, with bacon, eggs and memorable portions of food, and although she was not a picky eater, if there was institution style green beans or peas, they did not enter her mouth!

“I wasn’t a picky eater, but I thought the food was terrible,” echoed identical sentiments from Helen McLogan (1972-74) and Kathleen Dworman (1966). For Kathleen, saying grace was new, as she was Jewish, but for Helen, warm “Bug Juice” in the metal pitchers at room temperature stayed in her memory.

Val Van Laan (1965-70) was not used to having to eat food she didn’t like. “One year I had a counselor that made us eat everything, including the tomato soup and beets I couldn’t stand. I remember when she wasn’t looking, we would hide the food in our napkins.”

Maybe, Val should have tried out fifties’ camper Pat Purcell’s  trick. “I would eat one of the foods my girlfriend didn’t like if she would eat my beets. I hated beets! The staff wanted us to clean our plates and there was some pressure for me to eat those beets and I got caught giving them away.”

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Gagging Down Breakfast!

Published on by Kathy Baker

Oatmeal  and hot cereals delivered the most powerfully negative food memories for campers of all years. Holly Foss (1966-72), Bev Lemanski (1945), MaryJo Rawlings (1950’s) and Beth Taylor (1966+) all shared their intense dislike fore oatmeal.

Most of Beth’s camp memories were good ones, but she remembers one counselor who would insist they all clean their plates. Beth hated oatmeal and no amount of brown sugar could help her get it down. She gagged and gagged and this counselor would not let her up until it was done. To this day, she cannot eat oatmeal.

For Sue Robson (1970-71), French toast with powdered sugar and syrup was a good memory, but she has an aversion to this day to oatmeal, even when it was doctored up to make it more palatable.

“I learned to eat oatmeal and I hated hot cereal. It was the texture, not the taste, so I used to drown it in brown sugar and milk and take small bites,” said Stephanie Patterson (1961-65). “I was at camp during the time if you did not eat your breakfast, you were sent to the nurse for castor oil!”

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Dog Food Sandwiches and Taffy Pulls

Published on by Kathy Baker

“There was one dessert with cherries on it that we would do anything for a second helping. Usually, if you worked in the kitchen, you could get that second piece,” said Pam Wintermute (1955-56), who also recalled she had to bring a folding drinking cup to camp.

Cynthia Gregory (1960-65) also brought her collapsible cup for snack time. “We would have milk and cookies in the lodge, but we didn’t wash the cups very well. Maybe we would bring them back to the Brownie and rinse them out. I guess I didn’t wash mine for a few days and the smell of soured milk had gone inbetween.”

Two of the campers remembered the best homemade ice cream they had ever tasted at camp, and for Elaine Levinsohn (1927-30), apple butter was her favorite new taste.

Business manager Rhonda Thayer (1974-77) said, “The girls loved the pizza burgers, which were hot dog and hamburger buns with a can of pizza sauce spread on them and ground beef with a handful of cheese. It took so much work though, making hundreds of them to be then toasted in the oven, bevause they wanted three or four of them! But, we did it anyway.”

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Potato Donuts and Creamed Eggs

Published on by Kathy Baker

Most of the campers felt that although the camp food was not fancy, it was warm and good. Running off calories during the days’ activities meant the meals were especially welcome for staff and campers alike, and the girls often learned to eat and enjoy food not found at home.

The girls learned to like new dishes like tuna noodle casserole for Kerry Weber‘s (1952) friend; Johnny Cakes for forties’/fifties’ camper Marcia Sherman; creamed eggs for Edna Young (1932), canned fruit for fifties’ camper Susan Alcorn; creamed corn with bacon for Barb Hale (1950); banana boats for sixties’ camper Coleen Gasta and desserts for everyone!

“The food was not fancy, but it was not like home either,” said MaryBeth Morton (1974-75), who recalled more of the rituals surroungding the food in the lodge. “It was served family style and someone would go to the counter to get it. There were call-outs for certain things while we were at the table. We said grace and we were all excused at the same time.”

Judy Crissey (1954) said she was not a finicky eater and thought the meals were good. “I never gave food a second thought,” she said, remembering the bell that rang for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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Burnt Toast and Bug Juice–

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

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!”

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Cookie, Cookie!

Published on by Kathy Baker

Alice Sageman “just loves Maqua and has the patience of Job”, wrote Dorthe Balaskas in her 1967 report on the cook. (No temper, just calm and never wasteful in consideration of the high cost of the food.)

Lin Harris (1967) had a memory of a cook named Alice, cigarette hanging from her mouth, with her child at camp.

“There were some complaints about the food,” wrote Dorthe, “but for every complainer there was someone who thought the food was good.” (A specialist had come from Lansing to help Alice with her menus, but had only one or two suggestions that summer.)

She had a talent for gathering her group of aides together, which meant she was not left to do it all on her own. The campers showed their appreciation with songs. She tried not to repeat menus, and despite not being the best baker, she tried. She was eager to return to Maqua the following summer, which was a relief to Dorthe.

The assistant cook, Mrs. Finnie, was a concern to Dorthe, with her heart problems and age, but there were no incidents and she was a hard worker, who was warm and friendly, which “added so much to the camp spirit and staff morale”. She was considered Alice’s right hand man and if there were ever any disagreements between them, they worked them out quietly between themselves.

The kitchen aides that summer were hard workers and anticipated the needs of the kitchen without having to be constantly reminded. All three of them hoped to return to Maqua. Dorthe added comments about how much easier it was with paper products, but the expense was high and she hoped a dishwasher could be purchased in the future. The camp aides did not have to do towels this year, but a laundry lady was hired.

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