|
What’s Cooking in
the Troop?
by Michael
Zweirs
Senior Writer
What’s cooking in your troop? Or more precisely,
who’s cooking? Cooking is an ideal activity to help
Scouts develop some valuable life skills throughout the
patrol unit. Are you using the opportunity to their
advantage?
Let me tell a story to show what I mean. While camping
with our troop at a local Scout camp a few years ago, a
fellow Scouter and I found ourselves in conversation with
another troops’ Scouter.
“You cook on Coleman stoves?” he asked as he
eyed our kitchen site.
“We sure do. What do you use?”
“Fire,” he stated. “We cook over a
campfire. It’s the only way.” After he left, my
colleague and I looked at each other.
“Do you think we’re doing it wrong?” I
asked him. “I used to cook on a fire when I was a
Scout.”
“So did I,” he said. “Maybe we should give
our guys a chance to do it.”
Later that same weekend, we wandered past the
Scouter’s campsite. We were fortunate enough to pass as
they cooked lunch– or rather, as the Scouter cooked
lunch.
He crouched over the campfire, frying pan in one hand and
flipper in the other. Grilled cheese sandwiches sizzled away
while he fried them to an expert golden brown. When they
were done to perfection, he flipped them into a warming pot
on the other side of the cooking grill. Meanwhile, his
Scouts stood around, hands in pockets, kicking the dirt,
whittling away at sticks.
“When is lunch going to be ready, Skip?” a
Scout whined.
“I’m hungry,” groaned another.
The Scouter greeted us cheerfully as we came up the path.
“Good afternoon,” he smiled. “Care for a cup
of coffee?”
“How come you’re doing all the work?” I
asked, smiling.
“Oh, only I cook,” he replied. “The
fellows do the washing up.”
“Lucky guys,” I said, directing a smile to his
restless troops.
“Yeah,” one of the Scouts said with a sour
look. “And he always burns stuff on the pots so
they’re hard to clean!”
“You’re just lazy,” Scouter retorted.
“It took them two hours to clean up
after bacon and eggs this morning,” he
explained.
Needless to say, we didn’t stick around for
long.
“Those guys look positively miserable,” my
fellow Scouter said.
“No wonder they spent so long cleaning up after
breakfast,” I muttered. “Nobody likes cleaning up
someone else’s mess.” But I have often seen Scouts
cheerfully scrubbing badly burned pots and pans. The
difference was that they had done the burning
themselves!
How many times have you heard a Scouter say, “I
wouldn’t eat food my Scouts cooked. They burn
everything.” But, how are they ever going to learn to
cook properly if you don’t let them cook? And you
don’t have to be a guinea pig. Let the Scouts cook and
eat on their own. Who says you have to eat with them?
Our troop consistently has had such a large adult
leadership team that we form our own patrol when we go to
camp. The Scouts cook in their patrols and we in ours. We do
our best to set an example of how to cook and eat at camp,
and make occasional suggestions. The Scouts are allowed to
learn about cooking by doing it themselves.
In patrols, the Scouts designed their menus, penned a
food list, budgeted for and bought the food, and determined
who would carry what into camp. Once there, they set to work
preparing the food for a meal, cooking, and eating. During
the clean up, it was not unusual to see a lot of contented
faces over steaming wash basins and dripping drying
racks.
All patrol members learned how to shop, decide which
foods to cook first, and the like. Some Scouts developed a
specialty, and became “the pancake maker” or
“the grilled lasagna sandwich king,” but every one
of them had a chance to cook.
We usually try to cook something grander than basic camp
fare. As a result, a few years back, the troop’s
quality of cooking grew to such dizzying heights that the
Scouts were creating three or four course meals with entrees
such as chicken cacciatori, and spaghetti bolognaise.
Crêpes with fresh whipped cream and recently picked
raspberries were not unusual at breakfast. The focus of camp
became the preparation, cooking, and cleaning up of meals.
Was that such a bad thing?
I’ve seen troops where the Scouters plan the menu
(“Who said we want to eat liver!?”) and others
where the Scouts plan the menu but leaders buy and
distribute all the food (“Why did you get instant
oatmeal?”). I’ve been in a troop where Scouts
cooked and ate with a partner, and know of another where
Scouts bring and cook their own food on their own stove
(What happened to B-P’s patrol system?). And we all
know troops where the leaders do the cooking
(“When’s lunch ready, Skip?”).
Maybe we’ve all been guilty of at least one of these
crimes. Why? I think it’s because we don’t trust
our Scouts enough. But, here’s a report of an
experience to make you think. The scene is the Outdoor
Education class in junior high, where students are planning
a camping trip.
“I want to be in Mark’s group,” one
says.
“Why?” asks the teacher.
“Because he’s in Scouts and he know how to
cook!”
If one of your Scouts was in that Outdoor Education
classroom, would he, indeed, know how to cook?
Whether the Scouts in your troop are younger or older,
prefer hikes or canoe camps, or use stoves or fires, let
them cook. That doesn’t mean just putting pan to heat.
It means doing all the things involved in planning,
preparing, cooking, consuming, and cleaning up after a
meal.
I don’t mind the smell of burning food, as long as
it’s the Scouts doing the burning. When they get tired
of eating burned food, they’ll take your advice and try
cooking over lower heat. Meanwhile, set an example, give
them suggestions, and let them go to it.
|
