Canadian Scout Handbook

Boy Scouts of Canada - [1968?]

According to the Scout Memorabilia Collectors of Canada, this edition of the Canadian Scout Handbook was published in 1968. It is inscribed with the name of Cliff Lewis, who lived at 1813-17th St SW in Calgary in the early 1970s (Henderson’s ... Calgary). Boy Scout groups were formed in Canada as early as 1907, and the Canadian General Council of the Boy Scout Association was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1914 (Scouts Canada). Camp cooking has always been a key component of scouting: a special Canadian edition of Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell’s Scouting for Boys noted that “the three B’s of life in camp are the ability to cook bannocks, beans, and bacon” (120). Laid on the ground, a Scout’s coat was a fine surface for mixing bannock dough, according to Lord Baden-Powell, while other Scouting books illustrate the process of skinning a rabbit. By the 1970s, Scout cooking was a somewhat tamer affair, with suggestions for cooking desserts, potatoes, and meats, including “Tarzan Steak” placed right on the coals. This book also has a miniature food guide, based on Canada’s 1961 Food Guide, prescribing four or more servings of milk, four or more fruits and vegetables (with one citrus fruit daily and dark green or yellow vegetables), two or more servings of meat, and four of more servings of bread products per day.

With permission from Scouts Canada.