Food at Alpine
Tonight we enjoyed a Hamburger buffet eaten outside picnic style. Topped with our choice of cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, mustard, or mayo, we feasted on burgers under sunny skies outside on the lawns. Baked beans and potato chips accompanied our beef.
Food at Alpine is a big deal. When Mr. O, Carter’s dad and our founder, started camp in 1959 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 (except for our weekly hamburger picnics), 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. This summer we are sitting at tables with our cabin. Some are eating inside our dining hall and others are eating under a large tent on the field just outside. This is to space out our tables in hopes of keeping germs at bay.
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. 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. It’s not perfect, mind you. But we are a community and we have to think about others even at the table. 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 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.
Our high school Work Crew serves out the food and waits tables. They work hard and have fun. This morning they served us hot oatmeal with brown sugar, scrambled eggs, toast and jelly, and link sausage for breakfast. For lunch we enjoyed breaded chicken breasts, scalloped potatoes, steamed broccoli, and yeast rolls.
Today has been a mostly beautiful day for our final day of regular activities. We are so grateful considering that the forecast was for 90% chance of rain. We received one shower this afternoon that only lasted about 15 minutes. We’ll take that!
Tomorrow we’ll do some necessary packing, have some cabin game time, and play some special age group games. Then tomorrow night we culminate our term at camp with the Alpine Olympics. It’s like field day at school, where our two tribes will battle out in fun relay races. This will be our last update of the term as tomorrow will be a busy day.
As a reminder, gates will open on Wednesday at 7:30AM Central time. There is no staggered arrival and you are welcome to drive straight to your son’s cabin. Most boys will be picked up by 10AM.
Thank you again for allowing your boys to be here this term. We hope you’ll see positive growth in your camper as he comes home in a few days.
Glenn
