![]() “But we both knew it had to be done and that we might as well go work together and get the job done so we could both go to bed.” Chickie’s voice softened as she concluded her story, “We just had so much fun.” So, up we went, back to the kitchen, at 11:30!” she emphasized. “It was about 11:30 one night,” she continued, “and all of the sudden we realized we had forgotten to crack all the eggs for breakfast. “One night,” Chickie laughed again, promising that she would only tell me “one more story” about cooking back in the 1960s and 1970s with Bernice. The Chickie/Bernice duo stuck together for nearly fifteen years, with Bernice working and living at whatever camp Bob and Chickie worked at. the Internet, or solid walls and flooring, just know that when one discovers a kindred spirit - not only in the food service realm, but outside in the campfire and cabin life settings as well - one has truly found a life-long friend. Many camp food service directors over the years have struggled to find good, hard-working employees that can also meld into the social life that is just called “camp.” For those who have lived at camp, with or without roommates, with or without electricity, with or without. “Where are the cinnamon rolls?” was the much-repeated question after Chickie and Bernice moved on so much so that the administration called her and confessed, “We are so tired of hearing about those cinnamon rolls!” Those Valuable Food Service Staff Members The superbly matched cooking/baking duo of Chickie and Bernice continued when the McIntosh clan moved to a different camp, much to the consternation of the staff and campers left behind. “This is my kitchen,” Bernice continued firmly, “and you don’t belong in here.” Chuckling and shaking her head, Chickie says she “can still see Bernice’s fingers firmly gripping the man’s shirt,” while escorting him out of the kitchen.Ĭhickie began her own food service career in 1966, with her husband Bob and their four rambunctious boys, settling into the YMCA camp life at Camp Oaks in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear. “I don’t care who you are,” she remembers hearing Bernice say to the individual. The good food they produced drew in other guests, as well, and Chickie recounted the tale of a board member coming into the kitchen after a meal. “She hadn’t really ever baked before,” recalled Chickie, “but she fell in love with everyone, and everyone fell in love with her.” Bernice’s legendary cinnamon rolls sent delicious aromas weaving through trees and tents alike, bringing in even the most cantankerous and bleary campers to the dining hall for breakfast. ![]() One of Chickie’s life-long camp memo¬ries centers on a woman named Bernice Rafey, who was a school cafeteria cook from Moorpark, California. That - compounded with personal-memory chuckles and the sudden “Oh! I’ve thought of something else!” additions - made the quest for food service stories come alive for me, as well. While talking to Chickie McIntosh, a now-retired camp food service director with a thirty-year work history under her apron belt, I could actually hear the warm smile on her face. All anyone has to do is ask someone who has ever worked in a camp or conference center food service operation if they remember anything in particular about those years then, sit back and absorb the memories that come pouring out. Pictures and stories from the past have been discovered and lovingly reminisced over this past year, with the anniversaries of organized camp and the American Camp Association spur¬ring former campers and staff to dig deep for treasures set aside but never forgotten. The history of camp food has progressed with a flame-broiled flourish during the last 150 years of organized camping with YMCAs, church camps, Salvation Army camps, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps, and all other for-profit and nonprofit camps contributing to the rise of culinary expectation and achievement. All marshmallow-roasting sticks are raised in salute this year to celebrate 150 years of camp, and it is time to open the vault, dust off the photo albums, and prepare to be amazed with the collection of ingredients you’ll find for that favorite dish called nostalgia. What do you have? S’More! The demand heard ’round the world from happy campers is just one, tiny element included in the culinary delights offered at summer camp. Take two parts graham cracker, two parts chocolate bar one part large, toasted, gooey marshmallow pressed between the graham crackers and insert the conglomeration of flavor and mess into the waiting, open mouth of any camper at any camp in the world.
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