Food

What Foods Are Campers Begging Parents To Send To Camp?

Image by Incase/flickr

By Michelle Honig July 26, 2017

Unlike most camps, the one I went to when I was a kid actually allowed parents to send food. So there was no need to smuggle anything in. I was perhaps a bit more spoiled than the typical camper: My mother would send up a huge package filled with nosh before me and my siblings even left for camp, so that when we arrived we’d have a box full of goodies waiting for us.

These packages made me quite popular amongst my fellow bunkmates. As my mom recently informed me, “I sent you cool packages so everyone would like you.” (Thanks mom!)

I never did ask my mother to send up treats. But that’s mostly because my camp had abnormally delicious food, a fantastic canteen (where, as my sister so kindly reminded me, I “racked up quite a bill.” She said, “You went over your balance so much you had to take out in my name”). And as a “prize” for keeping our bunk neat and tidy, we were able to go on regular trips to the local Walmart.

But I’m clearly the anomaly here, since most children do beg their parents to send up a steady supply of goodies. We did a poll on Twitter to see what readers’ children most commonly request be sent from home: 27% asked for candy, while only 9% asked for cookies and 9% asked for chips. The majority, coming in at 55%, chose “something else” — proving that campers today have highly diversified palates.

When your child writes to you from camp, what do they beg you to send from home?

— The Forward (@jdforward) July 24, 2017

So, Dear Readers, we want to hear from you: What do your kids beg you to send from home? Is it your famous babka? A scone from a favorite bakery down the street? Is it a rack of ribs from Wolfgang Puck? Let us know in the comments or email us here.

Find Michelle Honig on Instagram and Twitter.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO