Feeding a Huge Camp-Meeting by Waldon Fawcett

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 17, 1913

Feeding a Huge Camp-Meeting

By Waldon Fawcett

PREACHERS and religious workers whose duties embrace the conduct of camp-meetings or other similar open-air gatherings have recently been making pilgrimages in considerable numbers from all parts of the country to Takoma Park, Md. The magnet which has drawn these churchmen — leaders in their respective communities, who must, perforce, be of a practical as well as a spiritual turn of mind — has been found in the opportunity to observe the routine of what is frequently referred to as the world's greatest camp-meeting.

Once every four years representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination assemble in a world conference, which continues in session for a month or more. Adventists come from all quarters of the globe and "camp out" in a model tented city during the Conference. It is not alone the programs given in the huge assembly tent that attract. Many of the visitors are deeply interested in the ways and means of caring for the material needs of those in attendance. The Adventist officials have not only been willing to disclose their methods, but have afforded every facility to persons, whether of their own denomination or not, who have journeyed to Takoma Park to get "pointers" on this subject.

It is safe to say that no camp-meeting in the length and breadth of the land presents harder problems in connection with cooking and serving food than does the Conference in Maryland, which has come to be regarded as a national object-lesson. For one thing, there is the circumstance that the scene of the Conference is in a somewhat isolated locality, and there being few, if any, regular eating-places in the neighborhood capable of caring for strangers, it becomes necessary to provide meals for virtually all those in attendance at the Conference. As many of the delegates camp on the grounds, the responsibility is not merely for a midday meal, but for three meals every twenty-four hours. Finally, the fact that hospitality must extend not over days, but weeks, precludes the possibility of those makeshifts, suggestive of the basket-picnic idea, which are resorted to in the case of many a brief camp-meeting.

The officials of the International Conference of Adventists, as the result of experience, have gradually reduced to a fine science the task of feeding the multitude. A large dining-tent is maintained at a central location on the Conference grounds, and connected with this are kitchens which, in point of system and equipment, are worthy to rank with those in the average large city hotel. During the Conference of 1913 there were served in this dining-tent an aggregate of upward of 100,000 meals. On occasion 4,000 to 5,000 persons had to be cared for, and repeatedly the dining-room force demonstrated its ability to serve 2,500 people within an interval of from one hour to one and one-half hours. The dining-room and kitchen staff totaled 125 persons, and the salary list was approximately $600 a week.

Persons who made a study of the culinary department at the gathering in Takoma Park soon found the secret of its success. It was system, always system, with rigid economy of time and space. The kitchens, as has been explained, directly adjoined the dining-tent; but in order to minimize the effect of inclement weather, the kitchens were installed in rough wooden buildings rather than in tents. Ranges and ovens of the latest approved pattern were provided, but these were not as numerous as they would have had to be but for the fact that the Adventists serve exclusively vegetarian menus. There were machines, all operated by electricity, which did the work of dozens of persons in preparing the vegetables, and there was even an individual butter cutter which turned out with almost incredible rapidity the individual squares of butter served to each diner. Potatoes were pared by friction, the skins being removed without a suggestion of tearing, pounding, or bruising; and dish-washing machines, likewise operated by electricity, cleansed thousands of dishes after every meal with very little breakage.

From the kitchens food was transferred direct to the steam-tables, ranged in double tier in the center of the dining-tent. This was one of the most ingenious features. In such temporary quarters it was, of course, impracticable to have steam-tables such as are utilized to keep food hot in restaurants and hotels; but tables were constructed with racks into which pans would fit snugly, and beneath these were placed burners, such as are to be found in the ordinary gasoline-stove, with the result that the heat was easily regulated and all food was kept piping hot for the late comers. Most of the serving in the dining-tent was done by young women, and they were so well trained that the serving of each course in a meal proceeded like clockwork.

The menus for all meals were posted in advance on large bulletin-boards outside the dining-tent. Persons who did not choose to patronize the dining-room

were free to go to a lunch-counter, which was operated in connection with the dining-room and under the same canvas roof. Or, if preferred, a visitor could be even more independent by making such purchases as he might desire at a full-fledged grocery and provision store that was conducted in this same connection. This store not only furnished the supplies needed for the dining establishment, but all manner of eatables, especially package goods, were retailed over the counter.

Visitors were most favorably impressed by the excellent sanitary conditions in the camp, despite the great quantities of food handled daily and the rapidity with which many of the operations connected with cooking and serving had to be conducted. It was found impracticable to screen the huge tent; yet, thanks to traps and preventives, flies were at a minimum. The manager even resorted to the expedient of erecting a screened shed, in which all garbage from the kitchens was deposited until it could be burned or permanently disposed of. Another marked improvement over old-time conditions was the provision in the dining-tent of electric lights. — Waldon Fawcett, in Christian Herald.