Food problems on tour

[jbl]

Good point. Best intentions...only get you so far.

I had a boss in the Air Force who loved to say, "Hope is not a course of action."

He was right.

-GM

When I was in the AF I knew a MWR major who used to gauge his job performance with the motto, "A whiny airman is a happy airman." So for him as long as there was whining he knew things were going well, but the minute the whining stopped he had to fix a problem, because no whining meant they were participating in the MWR activities.

Edited August 21, 2008 by jbl

[PhanFan]

I'm pretty new to DCP....does every thread deteriorate into a pissing match like this one?

As does most every thread on most every message board - it is the nature of the beast. Once it gets to that, just scroll and ignore cuz it's not going to change.

[84BDsop]

When I was in the AF I knew a MWR major who used to gauge his job performance with the motto, "A whiny airman is a happy airman." So for him as long as there was whining he knew things were going well, but the minute the whining stopped he had to fix a problem, because no whining meant they were participating in the MWR activities.

Wow....that;s the kind of officer who should never have made it past the butterbar stage....

[84BDsop]

In 85 BD we went through your 84 year. We had a bus breakdown outside Wendover, NV and spent several hours sitting by the roadside in the desert.

Did you find the Spirit and Xmen busses from the late 70s??

[NV82]

I think most of the time when you hear stories of a corps feeding another its due problems like their food truck breaking down and being left for repairs, or freezers going out. I’ve done my fair share of volunteering in the cook truck and I can tell you it’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done! Most of us average mom’s have no clue how to cook for 180 people! You’re the 1st up every morning to start breakfast, and the last down after cleaning up from late night snack, so sleep is not an option. We were in Kansas a couple of year ago during a record setting heat wave. It was 110 degrees outside and 180 inside the truck with ovens going full blast. I was thankful the kids never complained and didn’t seem to be going hungry. I swore I would never volunteer again, but well, I got to hear those cherished words a couple times a day: “Hi Mom” so in the end I decided to volunteer again the next year.

I have never witnessed a corps that didn’t have money for food; the lack of proper facilities seems to be a larger issue.

So where are the parents? We should be in the cook truck! I’ve seen parents who didn’t have time to volunteer send pizza. I thought it was a great idea and it gave us a much needed break. This year the drum corps gods smiled down on me and I got to sell souvenirs and repair uniforms for the week. It almost felt like I was slacking……..

[jbl]

Wow....that;s the kind of officer who should never have made it past the butterbar stage....

He was actually a good officer and took his job seriously. During Desert Shield/Storm he was actually instrumental in turning a desert base into a livable location.

[Scerpella]

thats actually not true. poor nutrition during formative years stunts your growth and leads to health problems later in life, and for most people that period of growth continues until they are 18-21, on average.

This is an often discussed topic, but I think the reliance on food trucks and the fear that the 40 days or so on tour with fast food or restaurant food will affect growth is really kind of silly. Compare what the average teen in America is eating during the summer and go back for the past 30-40 years of drum corps touring and youll begin to understand that the expense and logistical trouble to cart around your own corps commissary is probably unnecessary.

I dont have any issue with the occassional meal being served by the corps, usually because you dont want the extra time of finding an area with enough food service to feed a corps quickly, but the idea that corps members will be hurt if they dont have spaghetti or pineapple dumpcake served from their own foodtruck while on tours I think is without foundation.

Not only does it put a substantial financial strain on a corps, many who can ill afford it, but it also opens up this can of worms about "proper" diet and possible health problems coming about by non certified people or those inexperienced in serving large amounts of meals running these mobile kitchens.

If correct nutrition is really what its all about then Im fairly certain the menus being served on tour are not necessarily more than sugar and calories. Probably much higher in sugar and fat than what current nutrition experts would consider optimal.

My own view corresponds with the view expressed earlier, that 14-21 yr olds are essentially high efficiency furnaces who could literally eat anything and their bodies would make good use of it. The most crucial aspect of health and weight maintenance is activity and this is something the corps members are getting in much higher doses than the average teen.

[bearz]

If correct nutrition is really what its all about then Im fairly certain the menus being served on tour are not necessarily more than sugar and calories. Probably much higher in sugar and fat than what current nutrition experts would consider optimal.

Have you visited a food truck in the last 10 years? Nutrition is the word of the day there. Empty calories are few and far inbetween. Tons of fruit, veggies, lean meats and complex carbohydrates are the bible of the food truck cook staff.

Meals on tour today are nothing like when I was in corps. To this day I can't stand an egg McMuffin, and when I look back at my daily diary I see 2 and 3 hour blocks set aside to find a fast food place, eat and get back to practice. Certainly not a good use of practice times.

Also, all that fast food didn't do us a whole lot of good. I don't remember anyone losing weight like today's members do. That weight loss has as much to do with good nutrition as it has to do with exercise.

[Scerpella]

Have you visited a food truck in the last 10 years? Nutrition is the word of the day there. Empty calories are few and far inbetween. Tons of fruit, veggies, lean meats and complex carbohydrates are the bible of the food truck cook staff.

Meals on tour today are nothing like when I was in corps. To this day I can't stand an egg McMuffin, and when I look back at my daily diary I see 2 and 3 hour blocks set aside to find a fast food place, eat and get back to practice. Certainly not a good use of practice times.

Also, all that fast food didn't do us a whole lot of good. I don't remember anyone losing weight like today's members do. That weight loss has as much to do with good nutrition as it has to do with exercise.

Well every DCN I looked at where the kids were eating it was something like spaghetti or some sweet dessert. In any case I think there might be some significant disagreement on what constitutes proper nutrition. Still its 8 hours or more a day of strenuous physical exercise that keeps corps kids lean and mean. Any one of us including us 51 yr olds would look almost as good with that kind of exercise schedule (assuming our muscles and joints didnt give out first) Most boys at that age could eat completely overcarbed diets and be pretty cut.

As for the weight of todays members, I can with a completely straight face tell you that back in my day (same as yours) in my corps there couldnt have been more than 4-6 guys that had more than 5% body fat. And we ate mainly restaurant food with the occassional Froot Loops and orange juice breakfast tossed in.

[mad_scotty]

If correct nutrition is really what its all about then Im fairly certain the menus being served on tour are not necessarily more than sugar and calories. Probably much higher in sugar and fat than what current nutrition experts would consider optimal.

the madison food was so healthy that after finals i walked into a wendy's, ordered a bacon cheeseburger large fries and large coke out of dimly remembered habit and the shock of so much sugar and grease into my system made me so sick i could barely stand up and walk back to my parents van. luckily, i was drum corps trained, and the second they hit the interstate i passed out, and i was fine when they stopped driving. and i when i say healthy, i don't just mean no sugar, caffeine or fat, we ate really well (so well i actually started to gain weight at one point on tour). the food was plentiful, and you could eat as much as you wanted 4 times a day, but it was a pure health food diet, except for all the pb+j's laying around for anyone who didn't like what the cook crew had prepared.