New cooking requirements?

[BartHumphries]

Anyone heard anything about the new cooking merit badge requirements?

[RememberSchiff]

Rumor here is that the new requirements are somehow harder. Maybe the first requirement will include personal safety and first aid, i.e. "Explain the hazards of ..." or maybe a really hard life skill requirement like "Brew a cup of coffee for your scoutmaster. To pass this requirement, the scoutmaster must say "Now that's a great cup of coffee. May I have another cup?".

 

Anyway, this rumor has fueled a rush to start if not finish Cooking under the current requirements.

[King Ding Dong]

There are people over on Bryan all up in arms over this and I can't figure out why. Cooking is a necessary life skill, more so than most of the other Scoutcraft skills. Not trying to denigrate Scoutcraft, but you have to eat every day. If we made a Eagle Required Laundry MB that required doing your family's laundry for 30 days I suspect moms would be much more supportive of the program. Even if they double the required number of meals it is still fairly easy to do. They are going to cook and eat anyway. Without looking it up I think it is cook for two others, so a patrol can have two cooks. The backpacking meals do not have to be done on a actual backpacking trip, just using the methods. If the increased emphasis is on indoor cooking as rumored, so what ? Buy the groceries and cook for your family for seven consecutive days. Prepared. For Life.

[skeptic]

Some people simply do not handle any changes well. For some reason it is always the end of the world. Just ignore. It should have never been removed in the first place IMO.

[Kudu]

The backpacking meals do not have to be done on a actual backpacking trip' date=' just using the methods. [/quote']

 

This makes it consistent with Camping Merit Badge, which is designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs.

[Basementdweller]

The backpacking meals do not have to be done on a actual backpacking trip' date=' just using the methods. [/quote']

 

This makes it consistent with Camping Merit Badge, which is designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs.

ya, some folks spend too much time slicing and dicing the words instead of just doing.

 

Lawyering their way to Eagle.

[qwazse]

The backpacking meals do not have to be done on a actual backpacking trip' date=' just using the methods. [/quote']

 

This makes it consistent with Camping Merit Badge, which is designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs.

Of all the types of outings where a boy can cook independently (simply because most backpacking meals are done in groups of 3 or 4 max).

You'd think a troop would simply schedule more backpacking excursions just so boys would have more opportunities to work on the MB.

[looking for the wishful thinking emoticon ...]

[Brewmeister]

The backpacking meals do not have to be done on a actual backpacking trip' date=' just using the methods. [/quote']

 

This makes it consistent with Camping Merit Badge, which is designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs.

Yes but it is really impractical to haul the two-burner camp stove, 20 pound propane tank, kitchen box requiring 4 pallbearers, dutch ovens, and 20-foot dining fly into the wilderness.

[Stosh]

Gee, my wife and I went on a vacation last week and used a one-burner backpack stove the whole week. We didn't have a problem, and didn't starve to death. It takes a bit more planning, but that comes with experience and actually doing it. Reading about it in a book does not make one an expert on the subject. Circumventing a requirement only insures the boy will never learn to do it right if needed.

 

Being able to cook on a two-burner stove is great. Making the adjustments to a one-burner is laudable, but cooking on an open fire takes real skill beyond turning a adjusting screw on the burner. Taking that progression into account, a scout that can cook on an open fire will be able to adjust better to a burner stove far easier than the scout who has to because of necessity have to cook a meal on an open fire.

 

Short changing the requirement short changes the scout.

 

Stosh

[NJCubScouter]

I agree with skeptic, it never should have been removed in the first place. I was there when it happened, too. I earned Cooking MB, got the badge with the silver thread around it, then a few months later it wasn't required anymore. But while I think it should be on the required list, I think something else should have been removed. But I don't want to divert the thread with a discussion of what that should have been. Though I guess it has already been diverted; the question was, what the requirements are.

[perdidochas]

Rumor here is that the new requirements are somehow harder. Maybe the first requirement will include personal safety and first aid' date=' i.e. "Explain the hazards of ..." [/quote']

 

The first requirement under the current badge does that:

1. Do the following:
   
   1. 
      
   2. Review with your counselor the injuries that might arise from cooking, including burns and scalds, and the proper treatment.
      
   3. Describe how meat, fish, chicken, eggs, dairy products, and fresh vegetables should be stored, transported, and properly prepared for cooking.
      
   4. Describe the following food-related illnesses and tell what you can do to help prevent each from happening:
      
      1. Salmonella enteritis
         
      2. Staphylococcal enteritis
         
      3. E. coli (Escherichia coli) enteritis
         
      4. Botulism
         
      5. Trichinosis
         
      6. Hepatitis
         

       

   
   

[RememberSchiff]

Yes but I was thinking with less talk and more show

1. Explain the importance of washing your hands including how often. Show how to properly wash your hands in the kitchen and in the field. List the diseases that may spread from improper washing and their symptoms. How should bathroom trips, runny noses, and sneezing be managed (No snot in the pot!)

2. Show how to properly clean and store pots, pans, utensils, water containers. If you use cast iron cookware, show how to clean and season it.

3. Explain common injuries such as burns and knife cuts and show how to treat those injuries.

4. How do you keep food safe and determine if it is not? (Add a lot of detail here on checking temperature, bulging containers, freshness dates, cleaning vegetables, cross contamination, etc.) What illnesses can occur from the improper storage, cooking, and serving of food. How do you recognize and treat?

 

My $0.02

[King Ding Dong]

Yes but I was thinking with less talk and more show

1. Explain the importance of washing your hands including how often. Show how to properly wash your hands in the kitchen and in the field. List the diseases that may spread from improper washing and their symptoms. How should bathroom trips, runny noses, and sneezing be managed (No snot in the pot!)

2. Show how to properly clean and store pots, pans, utensils, water containers. If you use cast iron cookware, show how to clean and season it.

3. Explain common injuries such as burns and knife cuts and show how to treat those injuries.

4. How do you keep food safe and determine if it is not? (Add a lot of detail here on checking temperature, bulging containers, freshness dates, cleaning vegetables, cross contamination, etc.) What illnesses can occur from the improper storage, cooking, and serving of food. How do you recognize and treat?

 

My $0.02

Whoops. You suggested checking the temperature of food. Someone on here thinks that's crazy paranoid behavior.

[Basementdweller]

Yes but I was thinking with less talk and more show

1. Explain the importance of washing your hands including how often. Show how to properly wash your hands in the kitchen and in the field. List the diseases that may spread from improper washing and their symptoms. How should bathroom trips, runny noses, and sneezing be managed (No snot in the pot!)

2. Show how to properly clean and store pots, pans, utensils, water containers. If you use cast iron cookware, show how to clean and season it.

3. Explain common injuries such as burns and knife cuts and show how to treat those injuries.

4. How do you keep food safe and determine if it is not? (Add a lot of detail here on checking temperature, bulging containers, freshness dates, cleaning vegetables, cross contamination, etc.) What illnesses can occur from the improper storage, cooking, and serving of food. How do you recognize and treat?

 

My $0.02

Yep I still think your paranoid.....

[RememberSchiff]

Yes but I was thinking with less talk and more show

1. Explain the importance of washing your hands including how often. Show how to properly wash your hands in the kitchen and in the field. List the diseases that may spread from improper washing and their symptoms. How should bathroom trips, runny noses, and sneezing be managed (No snot in the pot!)

2. Show how to properly clean and store pots, pans, utensils, water containers. If you use cast iron cookware, show how to clean and season it.

3. Explain common injuries such as burns and knife cuts and show how to treat those injuries.

4. How do you keep food safe and determine if it is not? (Add a lot of detail here on checking temperature, bulging containers, freshness dates, cleaning vegetables, cross contamination, etc.) What illnesses can occur from the improper storage, cooking, and serving of food. How do you recognize and treat?

 

My $0.02

Yeah paranoid about bacteria, a bout of food poisoning is not fun.