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As a Boy Scout I am very envious of your cooking class. None of the scouting badges I earned have been very useful. Cooking on the other hand is something I c

As a Boy Scout I am very envious of your cooking class. None of the scouting badges I earned have been very useful. Cooking on the other hand is something I could of used all my life and never really learned until I was in my 30s. I think the most amount of cooking we did in Boy Scouts was making doughnuts on a trip to the cabin one time.

ohjeez 8y ago
I made the BEST Apple Brown Betty when I was 8 years old. Though my husband _did_ learn how to cook in Scouts. (It helped that he went through serious wilderness camping trips, so he knew how to do everything from gig a frog to roast a chicken... starting with a live chicken.)
sanderjd 8y ago
Cooking merit badge is required for Eagle: https://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Cooking https://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Cooking. That link also says it was one of the original 57 merit badges, which I didn't know, but find interesting! I don't remember whether it was overly camp-cooking focused when I did it, but the current requirements include a "cooking at home" section. Personally, what I have come to appreciate about the Boy Scouts merit badge system is breadth. None (or at least very few) of the merit badges require you to learn much about their topic, but they teach you a little, and introduce you to at least one person who knows some stuff about that thing. I feel that I learned a little bit about a lot, and my Computers merit badge instructor was one of the first computer "experts" I knew; he taught me how to wipe and install Windows 98, and was the first to show me the innards of a computer. I like to think (but don't really know) that lots of other folks stumble upon a passion in a similar way while working through the broad survey in the catalog. I think it can be a bit hard for kids to find (or stated differently, for parents to provide) this sort of breadth, and I'm strongly in favor of any program that attempts to provide it, not just the boy / girl scouts.
smileysteve 8y ago
I feel that camping taught me a lot about cooking; especially with backpacking; You learn what will keep, what's heavy, what ingredients you can replace with what, and what, with limited ingredients you can make into a good meal. Examples: way too many combinations of sealed chicken/tuna, macaroni, and broccoli; eggs, pasta, using oil and water without/instead of milk, the food safeness of dried sausage.

ohjeez 8y ago

I made the BEST Apple Brown Betty when I was 8 years old. Though my husband _did_ learn how to cook in Scouts. (It helped that he went through serious wilderness camping trips, so he knew how to do everything from gig a frog to roast a chicken... starting with a live chicken.)

sanderjd 8y ago

Cooking merit badge is required for Eagle: https://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Cooking https://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Cooking. That link also says it was one of the original 57 merit badges, which I didn't know, but find interesting! I don't remember whether it was overly camp-cooking focused when I did it, but the current requirements include a "cooking at home" section. Personally, what I have come to appreciate about the Boy Scouts merit badge system is breadth. None (or at least very few) of the merit badges require you to learn much about their topic, but they teach you a little, and introduce you to at least one person who knows some stuff about that thing. I feel that I learned a little bit about a lot, and my Computers merit badge instructor was one of the first computer "experts" I knew; he taught me how to wipe and install Windows 98, and was the first to show me the innards of a computer. I like to think (but don't really know) that lots of other folks stumble upon a passion in a similar way while working through the broad survey in the catalog. I think it can be a bit hard for kids to find (or stated differently, for parents to provide) this sort of breadth, and I'm strongly in favor of any program that attempts to provide it, not just the boy / girl scouts.

smileysteve 8y ago

I feel that camping taught me a lot about cooking; especially with backpacking; You learn what will keep, what's heavy, what ingredients you can replace with what, and what, with limited ingredients you can make into a good meal. Examples: way too many combinations of sealed chicken/tuna, macaroni, and broccoli; eggs, pasta, using oil and water without/instead of milk, the food safeness of dried sausage.