Evening star. [volume], June 28, 1936, Page 14, Image 86

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
■ T fTlUyWAIIIV
WE GIVE YOU
the NA VY
Navy beans are not a myth. For,
believe it or not, the future heroes
of our seas name Boston Baked
Beans among their favorite Foods
by Grace Turner
HE scene is one of the largest dining
rooms in the world — the mess hall of
the United States Naval Academy at
Annapolis, where 2,000 midshipmen in
training eat their three square meals a day.
TJiis is a place and these are men who help
to keep the Boston Baked Bean famous.
It is not that midshipmen like other foods
the less nor that they are fed on an exclusive
diet of beans. Actually their table brings them
the best of every meat and vegetable and fruit
in season. Milk, cream, butter and cheese
come fresh to the great pantries of the mess
hall from the Academy's dairy farm. Favor
ites like filet mignon, chocolate cake and ice
cream appear often in the menus.
But when the young ^candidates for the
navy go home on leave, they talk with special
fervor about the beans they get at school.
That is how it happens that requests from
every comer of the nation come to the Naval
Academy for the recipe used there. We got a
copy of it from Captain M. H. Philbrick, the
ifiidshipmen's commissary officer, and trans
lated the famous recipe into family dimensions
for any of our readers who would like to have
it.
Ordinarily the ranks of white clad tables
down the two sides of the vast dining hall are
wholly military in appearance. Next Satur
day, however, they will take on a festive air
with flowers and fixings in honor of the Fourth
of July. This is a big holiday for the nine hun
dred raw. new “plebes,” as the boys in the
entering class are called, and for the third
class left behind after the graduation exer
cises and the departure of the first and second
classes on the cruise. There will be roast
turkey with celery-dressing for dinner, sweet
potatoes Southern style, chocolate ice cream,
cup cakes, mints, nuts and coffee.
This is a day also for boat-party picnics on
ketches and sailboats, where midshipmen are
permitted to entertain their girls — “drags”
is the professional, navy term for these mem
bers of the gentle sex. Many a meal is cooked
on the galley stove of the ketches, with a
potential housewife and future officer of the
United States navy wrestling together over
pots and pans and supper-getting.
The four ketches each carry thirty
picnickers, with fourteen of the boys
acting as crew. Sailboats are much
more numerous; but it’s only five to
a sailboat. So they are preempted by
small parties of “quins.’’ Though the
boys are provided by the Academy
with the makings of salads and sand
wiches for their party, the girls bring
well filled picnic baskets to be stowed
away for the high moment of the
afternoon when all hands fall to and
demolish the contents.
This is the favorite order for in
formal holidays. But there are numer
ous occasions when midshipmen don
their dress uniforms and girls put on
their loveliest clothes for parties at An
napolis. Saturday nights are gay with
Photo Color by
F. A. Weeks
Acme Photo
AN ENSIGN NOW IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY
dances and the charming old hotel just across
the road from the Academy is crowded with
young feminine visitors. It overflows again
during commencement time. “June Week” as
it is called at Annapolis.
That is the date for the big supper on the
tennis court, and for the Ring Dance which
gets its name because then, for the first time,
the men of the second class may wear their
rings. And unfortunate would be the young
hero who did not boast a sweetheart to slip
his on his finger according to old tradition.
At this time, too, the men of the first class
give a farewell dance on the Wyoming, the
flagship of the training squadrons. The or
chestra blares over the stern decks of the
battleship and refreshment tables stand gaily
among the guns.
ivuasmpmen are not merely nosts at Annap
olis; often they are guests. Many officers with
quarters on the grounds are blessed with
daughters; and where daughters are, there,
too, are midshipmen. More formally they visit
Rear Admiral David Foote Sellers, the
superintendent. He and his wife are at home
to them occasionally, and every Sunday they
invite ten men of the first class to dinner.
‘‘What do midshipmen like best to eat?”
we asked the Admiral.
‘‘Ice cream and cake,” he said, ‘‘and hot
gingerbread with whipped cream.”
‘‘And what do you like best,” we ques
tioned, wondering how tastes change from
midshipman to officer.
‘‘Terrapin,” he told us, ‘‘and canvasback
ducks and all kinds of sea foods, lobsters,
crabs and oysters.”
Of terrapin he is especially fond, calling it
a ‘‘lost art” known nowadays to only a few.
So, readers, we give you the navy, where
midshipmen like baked beans and admirals
prefer terrapin.
Men’s Favorite Foods
The recipes in ovr leaflet of "Aten's Favorite
Foods" have been proved popular among
officers of the navy. They include simple
standbys like baked beans, chocolate cake,
gingerbread and sweet potatoes, Southern
style. There are also recipes for terrapin,
lobster, crab and oysters. To get the leaflet
send a three-cent stamp with your request
and (printed) name and address to This
Week magazine in care of this newspaper.
CIRCLE—HERE
ARE BAKED
BEANS MADE BY
THE RECIPE
MIDSHIPMEN AT
ANNAPOLIS
BOAST ABOUT
Photos by
Dana B. Merrill
LEFT—A CAKE
THAT WINS
THE HEART OF
A MAN WHO
GOES TO SEA
IN SHIPS