Hey, Mom! Stop Sending Me Cookies!

Dear Mom,

Camp sure is fun, but the food is nothing like you said it would be. There’s no mystery meat and we almost never get burgers. Most days it’s salad bar or stir-fry. Last night we toasted tofu dogs around the fire.

Oh yeah, and the counselor says you’ve got to stop sending cookies ‘cause we’re not allowed so many sweets.

Love, Me.

*

Sound far-fetched? It isn’t. Like schools, the nation’s roughly 12,000 summer camps are under growing pressure to clean up their menus as parents and public health officials become increasingly concerned about childhood obesity.

Although schools -- despite federal mandates -- have been slow to respond, the dining halls of the far less regulated camping industry have rushed to replace fatty snacks and sugary drinks with sprouts and steamed vegetables.

“It’s amazing. Honestly, it’s better than the food I get at home,” Gabe Wolff, 15, said while tucking into a salad with the sort of teenage boy-gusto normally reserved for pizza. He attends Windsor Mountain International camp in Windsor, N.H.

As with so many camps today, Windsor’s offerings include vegetarian options at every meal, homemade bread and baskets of fresh fruit.

That’s a world of difference for an industry known as much for serving junk food as for its archery and swim lessons.

“It has changed drastically since I was a child,” said Viki Kappel Spain of Portola, Calif., who has written two books about summer camp food service and nutrition. “Camp was so exciting, you kind of just lived through the food.”

These days, summer camps thrive because of their food, not despite it. That’s due partly to changing dietary demographics, including a greater awareness of food allergies and more nutrition-savvy parents.

Although promoting healthy foods and fitness once was the domain of weight-loss camps, mainstream programs have realized in the last decade that what’s good for children also is good for business.

“If you don’t develop a reputation for having outstanding food and variety, if you do not offer choices that please most of the people most of the time,” you can’t compete, Spain said.

Twenty years ago, vegetarians represented maybe 1% of campers and staff members, she said. Today, more than 25% demand meatless options, and a summer of peanut butter and jelly won’t suffice.

Vegetarians are just the start. Health conditions that require strict diets, including diabetes and peanut allergies, are on the rise. And with more children battling the bulge, cutting calories has become a concern for every camp.

“They’ve heard the word of parents, of consumers, of doctors, of nutritionists,” said Jeffrey Solomon, executive director of the National Camp Assn. “Ten years ago, a camp with a salad bar was an anomaly. Today, it’s really the norm.”

Schools face the same pressures, but have been criticized for the pace of their response. Many rely on snack and soda sales to prop up other programs, but most camps’ fees cover all programs and food, said Peg Smith, executive director of the American Camping Assn.

That makes it easier for camps to get rid of junk food, she said. Many have already eliminated such items from their stores, and some tell parents not to send sweets-filled care packages.

“You’ll have parents say we want better food, healthier food, we don’t want junk food and, at the same time ... sending care packages to kids with junk food in them,” Solomon said.

The pressure for change isn’t coming just from parents who send about 10 million kids to residential and day camps every year; healthy food also is vital to staffing.

Heather Kiley, director of Camp Merrowvista in Tuftonboro, N.H., said the young adult counselors tended to be active and health-conscious. They aren’t willing to spend a summer eating the camp equivalent of fast food.

“It’s really important that they don’t feel they’re having deep-fried Tater Tots and deep-fried fish sticks every day,” she said. “They need to feel they have healthy options available to them at each meal.”

Although mainstreaming healthy foods -- especially vegetarian items -- has made them more affordable for camps, Spain said many struggle when asked to cater to pricey fad diets, such as the low-carb craze.

She said most camps had noticed an unexpected benefit to offering better food.

“If you talk to 100 camp counselors, they’ll tell you exactly the same thing -- cut back on sugar and caffeine and the kids are much more manageable,” Spain said.

Despite the many changes, some summer camp traditions hold. Hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza still make appearances, just less frequently and usually accompanied by more fresh produce. And s’mores, those gooey melts of chocolate bar and toasted marshmallow smooshed between Graham crackers, remain fireside staples, Smith said.

At Merrowvista, dessert still often is cookies or cake -- albeit in limited portions.

“It’s a balance of things,” Kiley said. “It’s not all health food, but there are healthy options with it.”