New Culinary Program: Already a Manitou Favorite!

Beyond our enthusiastic campers, the diverse program and our supportive staff, a central pride that we hold here at Manitou is our food. Caring and passionate kitchen staff, fresh ingredients, innovation and variety come together deliciously to please anyone who steps into the dining hall.

Beyond being sustenance for the sports and activities to which the the campers tirelessly commit, mealtime is a great opportunity for campers and staff to bond with the people they are surrounded by at camp. This year, we have further developed and deepened that bond by introducing the Culinary Arts instructional to give campers a behind-the-scenes experience in the kitchen.

Led by chef Keith, campers will encounter food in a completely new way. His passion for what he does and his excitement to pass on his knowledge to the campers makes the instructional a valuable learning experience as well as engaging for the campers who choose it. They learn combinations of ingredients, techniques of preparing and cooking, and even where the ingredients come from on field trips to orchards, farms and mills. Most recently, campers have gone to the local grain mill to see the processing procedure of the flour, oats and granola that are used in the dining hall and in the Culinary Arts kitchen.

With this program, campers have an opportunity to further appreciate a good meal and how food preparation can be an edible art form. Some examples of dishes that campers have helped to create are: herb-rubbed steak with roasted corn and red peppers, garlic aioli as a garnish for the steak and vegetable dipping sauce, and fudge. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to put your aspiring chef to work in your own kitchen at the end of the summer!