The Dining Hall Experience

Glenn Breazeale | Jul. 07, 2015

Today was a banner day for food at Alpine.  We knew it would be the minute we smelled the bacon wafting from the Dining Hall early this morning.  Bacon can only mean one thing - Mrs. Gail’s French toast to go with it!  I ate way too many pieces of bacon.  Also, at breakfast each day the ladies put out a breakfast bar with yogurt, Greek and plain, granola, fruit, and cereal.  Campers and counselors alike line up to get items off the breakfast bar.  Lunch was served piping hot today, turkey roast, steamed carrots, mini roasted potatoes, and cornbread.  A full salad bar accompanies every lunch, with mixed lettuce, fresh spinach, and an assortment of toppings and dressings.  Sliced carrots, craisins, and sunflower seeds on a bed of spinach leaves topped with balsamic vinaigrette is my usual.

Food at Alpine is a big deal.  When Dick started camp his father gave him one piece of advice.  His father, by the way, was Dr. Carter O’Ferrall (hence my wife’s name) a much loved physician in Jackson, MS who had delivered most of the boys who camped at Alpine those first few years.  So his advice was that no matter what else you do don’t skimp on the food.  Serve quality food that boys will eat.  And so that is our goal every summer.

The dining hall is one of the greatest experiences at camp.  We eat family style, large heaping bowlfuls of each item carefully placed on each table only minutes before the dinner bell rings, in hopes that we can still see steam rising when we arrive.  Boys sit at the same table all term, with usually 10 boys their age and 2 or 3 counselors.  Some will be from their cabin and a few others from the cabins right around them.  We enter the dining hall in a shockingly orderly manner for over 300 hungry men and boys, each receiving a squirt of hand sanitizer on the way in the screen door.  Standing behind our chairs, we resist grabbing that loose hanging piece of bacon as we await the Program Director’s call to sing the blessing.

There are 3 blessings, one for each meal, that we have been singing for as long as I’ve been at camp.  And I am pretty sure much farther back than that.  The last note of “Amen” is usually mixed with the beginning sound of 300 plus chairs pulling back as we take our seats, eager to pass what’s in front of us and catch the next bowl headed our way.

We place an emphasis on manners and service at the table.  Not a white table cloth, cotillion type manners.  More like: this is a community and we have to think about others type table manners.   When we’re hungry, food can bring out the most selfish sides in all of us, and I include myself and all the other staff in that category.  We actually spend a lot of time in Staff Training talking about it.  We are very intentional in how we treat the table experience.  It’s an intimate experience and boys take away a lot from their time in the Dining Hall.

We pass all the food around in one direction.  We each take a reasonable portion to make sure everyone at the table gets a little bit (this does not come so naturally when you’re hungry!  Sometimes our instinct is to pile as much on our plate as we can without regard to the others.) We wait until everyone at the table has been served until any of us takes the first bite.  It all seems sort of obvious as I write it but when you get 12 or 13 hungry males at a table it takes a practice and self discipline.

And of course there’s plenty of food and the high school boys on Work Crew are happy to come and refill our serving bowls and platters.

Tonight the Work Crew received a much deserved night off.  Roderick declared it Taco Tuesday, which means a taco buffet, eaten picnic style on the lawn in front of the dining hall.  Corn chips, ground beef, rice, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa are all on offer in the buffet line.  Piled high with a delicious taco salad, campers and counselors alike enjoy sitting outside for a change and enjoying good food and fellowship.

The fun rolls on here at Alpine.  As I write this, from my screened porch, tucked just in the trees off the field and gym, boys are running and playing games for night program.  All is well at camp.

Thanks for reading and good night for now,

Glenn

Glenn Breazeale
Glenn Breazeale

Like his own father, Glenn grew up as a camper at Alpine for six summers, coming from Jackson, MS each summer. He has served on staff at Alpine since 1997, working full time as Assistant Director from 2003 to 2005 and Director since 2006. Prior to that he gained experience serving in various capacities including cabin counselor, Head Counselor, Head of Project Adventure (Ropes course), Horseback instructor, and Program Director. Glenn’s love of camping and his desire to preserve the traditions of Alpine drew him back to camp to offer young boys the same opportunities he experienced. He met and fell in love with Carter during a Square Dance with Camp DeSoto.