(Editor’s Note: This is the seventh story in the series about “The Merit Badge That Changed My Life.” Since 1910, Scouting America has offered hundreds of merit badges—each one a doorway to new skills and life-changing experiences. In 1911, the Cooking Merit Badge was added to the original list of 14 “Badges of Merit,” bringing the total number of Merit Badges that could be earned to 57 (27 of which, including Cooking, are still in use). While earning the Cooking Merit Badge, Scouts learn basic principles that can be used at home or on a camping trip—including food safety, nutritional guidelines, meal planning, and methods of food preparation. This month’s story is about Brad Tilden, who earned the Cooking Merit Badge in 1972. Brad was the 39th National Chair of the Boy Scouts of America (now Scouting America), serving from 2023 to 2026.)
Camp Westmoreland is a Scout camp about 60 miles northwest of Huntsville, Alabama, where my family lived when I was a young Scout. It was there, somewhere around the summer of 1972, that I earned the Cooking Merit Badge.
I remember my excitement for going to summer camp like it was yesterday. In those days, we packed big steamer trunks, the kind you would have used to board a ship, to go to Scout camp. In the years before I was old enough to go to camp myself, I remember hanging around the house while my two older brothers packed their trunks and nearly jumping out of my skin with anticipation. When my turn finally came, camp did not disappoint. I loved being outside, being with friends, and being semi-responsible for myself. (I emphasize the word semi because I was not all that responsible. But those stories are for another day.)
The Cooking Merit Badge was one of Camp Westmoreland’s merit badge offerings—and it was one of the first merit badges I earned. I had to cook a meal for our patrol, and the camp commissary issued everything we needed to make spaghetti: ground beef, onions, tomato sauce, spices, salt, and pasta noodles. (Actually, thinking back on it, I’m sure we didn’t call the noodles “pasta” in 1972.)
What I remember most about the whole experience is that the spaghetti actually tasted good. I remember cutting the onions and complaining that they were making my eyes water. My Scoutmaster said that if I didn’t talk, my eyes wouldn’t water. It took me about 40 years to figure out that he was addressing a different problem than the fact that my eyes were watering.
I also remember browning the meat, adding the onions and watching them soften and turn translucent, and then adding salt, tomato sauce, and the spices. And then we cooked the noodles as we all know how to do now. I remember coming home and telling my parents and being so proud of my new skill. They asked if I would like to try it at home, and I said that I would. And it turned out good again.
Since that summer at Camp Westmoreland, spaghetti has sort of become my thing. We now use a little sausage as well as ground beef, and we use garlic in addition to onions. Sometimes we start with whole peeled tomatoes and sometimes we add tomato paste. And oh—here’s a real trick for anyone reading this—try adding jalapeños. We add two or three, with seeds removed and chopped up into bits and then we soften/caramelize them at the same time as the onions. They add a delicious warmth to the sauce without being overpowering. And the pasta we use is now bucatini. But—and this is important too—the basic approach is the same as what I learned in Scouts 54 years ago.
This is one small example of why I believe in the Scouting program so much. Scouting teaches kids independence, resilience, and confidence. And the confidence comes from actually becoming proficient at something useful at a young age. And who knows what Scouting skills you might still be putting to use, over half-a-century later!
I know that all of you have your own stories about how Scouting has grown you (or your kids) and made you better. It’s our job now to give these same gifts to the next generation.
