Last Updated: 1/31/99 |
CADETS AND FOOD
Cadets today are no different
than cadets of earlier days; they bring withthem
their likes and dislikes of certain foods. Just
like former President Bush who doesn't care for
broccoli, cadets come from all sections of the
country and are used to certain tastes,
delicacies such as grits from the southern
states, etc. as well as their favorite dish that
Mom always cooked. Not too many years ago, the
menus for the meals were fairly standard and
predictable. If cadets thought the evening meal
was going to be one that they didn't particularly
care for, they would go to the 'Boodlers',which
carried candy and ice cream among other goodies,
and purchase a pint or two of ice cream and bring
it back to their room and wrap it in their
comforter (Brown Boy in olden days, has other
names today) to keep it frozen and then eat it
after returning from the evening meal. 'Boodle'
(goodies from home) also helped as long as there
was some left after other ravenous classmates
found out about a package having been received.
Cadets are no longer required to eat the evening
meal in the Mess Hall (except for Thursday
nights). Therefore cadets can order in pizzas or
go to the Boodlers if they don't like the menu,
on any night except Thursday.
I believe that someone once said
that an Army travels on its stomach. A lot of my
memories harken back to the Mess Hall. I remember
having to announce each item to the head of the
table as it arrived. One day one of our cohorts
(from a Northern state) didn't read the
menu and found himself in a quandary when a
strange dish arrived. It was black eyed peas. He
said "Sir the beans are on the table. Beans
to the head of the table please sir."
The firstie was from the south and immediately
was incensed. He asked him what they looked like.
The response: brown beans with spots. The firstie
then yelled quite loudly "Mr. that's
gross." Our illustrious comrade, without
missing a beat, said "The gross is on the
table. Gross to the head of the table please
sir." The firstie spewed out what was in his
mouth. I began laughing uncontrollably. Needless
to say
neither of us had much of a dinner that night.
Another time brussel sprouts were on the menu.
The same individual announced that the baby
cabbages had arrived. I smiled then and still do
when thinking of the inane things that we had to
do.
My favorite Mess Hall
story: Gunner announced, "Sir,
the dessert for this meal is cherry pie.
Doe anyone not care for cherry pie?"
After struggling for some time to cut nine (or
was it seven) equal portions, and making far more
that the necessary number of cuts, he grabbed his
spoon, stirred the pie furiously, and then
announced, "Sir, the dessert for this meal
is cherry cobbler." I think they let
him fall out for originality.
-----------------------
Jim was an extremely imaginative
human being and we set a record in I-1 for
putting on a skit every night for four weeks in a
row and earning a fallout for each one.
This was VERY tough to do in I-1, but as I said
Jim's imagination was very fertile and each
evening as we were polishing our shoes before
supper formation he came up with a story line for
a skit that carried the votes of a majority of
upperclassmen at the table.
On one night, however, his
theatrical flair got him in trouble. Jim
was in the habit of flipping the pie plate
through a 360 degree vertical rotation between
the table and the level of his right ear where he
held it up for announcement. Usually, he
carried off this maneuver with no untoward
consequences. On one night, however, the
pie came out of the pie plate and landed
kersploch on the table cloth, just as Jim
announced, "Sir, the dessert for this meal
is peach pie, would anyone not care for peach
pie, sir?" Needless to say, this
attracted the attention of the whole table
including the very imposing table com, cadet Lt.
J. J. Java. Java glowered down the table at
Jim and in a very intimidating voice said
something like, "Well, dewscrew, what are
you going to do now?" Jim, with
amazing mental alacrity replied, "Sir may I
make a correction," to which Java replied,
"Make your correction,
smackhead." Jim came back with
"Sir the dessert for this meal is peach
cobbler," whereupon he expeditiously scooped
the peach mess back into the pie plate.
This being I-1, he did not get a fallout, but he
at least got himself out of a bad crack. I
think I braced during most of the remainder of
the meal for being caught smirking, but it was
worth it. My kids, especially Doug, USMA 91,
still like to hear me tell the tale
Two or three times a month, the cadet mess would serve a meatloaf we
called TURKEY - because it was so foul!! To mask the taste, the plebes at
the table had to make a sauce that we called SCHIMMELFENNIG (presumably
after the civil war officer) that was half ketchup and half mustard. The
purpose, of course, was to sex up the taste of the TURKEY and it really
worked. Actually, it was delicious but we always had a lot of fun joking
about it.
MESS-HALL REMINISCENCES
From the 1871 Scrapbook
The fare of the cadets in those days was much grumbled at, but I think never
without reason.
It consisted almost exclusively of beef, boiled, roasted, or baked for
dinner; cold, sliced, or smoked for breakfast and supper; beef soup twice a
week, and bread pudding with molasses on soup days.
The bread was excellent, and huge batches were baked twice a week and stowed
away in a great room.
The stale bread and the remnants it was believed were made into puddings.
Once the Captain of the Mess-hall found in a pudding a nest of three or four
mice. He forthwith carried the great tin pan which contained the pudding to
the Superintendent, who dismissed him with the information that it was an
accident which might easily happen. But immediately after that, for at
least a month, the corps were served with roast geese and turkeys in great
abundance.
The story was that this fare was forced upon the steward as a punishment for
the mice. It was more probably a free will offering from Mr. Cozzens, who
was always a great friend to the cadets, and a universal favorite. While
carver of my squad I once found that the tea came out of the great tea-pot
less fluently than usual, and upon seeking the cause, discovered a
dish-cloth in the bottom of the spout. Another time a carver fished out a
fine-tooth comb from the pudding, and this brought another supply of geese
and turkeys.
The only man I ever saw eat pork and molasses was a Southerner. He would
cut a slice of fat pork and cover it with molasses and esteem it the
greatest luxury of the table. Yet it was always a standing jibe on the
"Yankees" that they were "pork and molasses eaters."
Previous to 1826, the cadets on the fourth of July were allowed liquors, and
they always had a sumptuous dinner. This was prohibited by the
Superintendent in 1826. Upon the fourth of July that year, Major William J.
Worth, the Commandant, spread a table in his own house and invited the whole
corps to partake; wines, ices, and rich provisions in abundance. The story
circulated afterwards that he and the Superintendent quarrelled in
consequence of the dinner, and it never was repeated.
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