“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.”
Then there was the dreaded liver, which was served once a week during Molly Olson’s (1946+) realm. “I have not eaten liver the rest of my life, nor have I eaten chipped beef on toast. I remember a friend of my Mom’s had a luncheon for me before my wedding and I walked up to the table and almost threw up because she had chipped beef on toat. I did not eat it.”
“Food was not a memory for me, but I do remember someone from the kitchen coming out with netted hair to serve our table,” said sixties’ camper Tami Nagel . “I saw a girl hold a glass and when she saw that milk was being poured into it, she moved it away and said she was allergic. Well, the milk went all over. But, it got me thinking. I hated tomatoes, so I thought to myself— that is what I should say. I’m allergic!”
“Really, the only bad experience I had at camp was Cream of Mushroom soup,” said Barb Cruey (1956).” We had to try everything and I had never had mushrooms before. It wasn’t something my parents ever had at home. Well, after being told I had to try it, I immediately got sick to my stomach and ran out of the lodge. I have never tried it since.”
“The food in the lodge was actually fine, except for Fridays, “ said Sue Kiltie 1960-68). “I was Presbyterian, but the Catholics couldn’t eat meat on Fridays, so they would make these awful salmon patties and not out of fresh salmon, but something out of a can. Then they would put some creamed sauce with peas over it. I learned as a child how to push the food around on your plate to make it look like I had eaten some, but I quickly learned at camp to make a sugar and butter sandwich on white bread, so I didn’t starve.”
Cheryl Short (1964) hated the food and although there was not much variety, there was more than she had at home. “My Mom was a good cook. We always had plenty of beef and pork, but I wasn’t ever sure of what I was getting at camp. I was not a “tryer”. I hated vegetables, especially cooked vegetables and I am pretty sure we had Spam.”
Carla Schweinsberg (1945-52) consoled herself with the fact that two saltines (or graham crackers, if you were lucky) with a half a glass of milk would be their night-time snack to hold them over until breakfast. ‘We used to tell each other that we needed our mothers to come up and cook for us,” laughed Karen Kaunitz (1945).
Were you a picky eater? How did the food differ from home?