100% vegetable menu of a children’s camp in Wettingen: unhappy parents

“There were neither real sausages, no butter, nor cow’s milk. There was only oat milk and vegetable alternatives. ” When Irene Bucher recovered her twelve-year-old son at the end of the Jublasurium camp, he only talked about one thing: food. And not in good. The national camp organized by the Catholic Youth Movement Jungwacht Blauring Swiss (Jubla) was held from June 7 to 9 in Wettingen (AG) and brought together more than 10,000 children and adolescents from all over the country. “Some children have eaten almost nothing, they are not used to that,” said the mother, who challenged the committee.

What disturbs the mother is above all the lack of information upstream. She would have said, she could consider not registering her child if she had known for the imposed vegetarian diet. An observation shared by other parents. But for the organizers, the decision went without saying. “With such logistics, centralized vegetarian cuisine was the simplest solution,” explains Luca Belci, co -president of the association. He specifies that meals (penne with tomato sauce, vegetable risottos and vegetable chocolate drinks) were thought of for everyone. And menus have been prepared for 428 children with allergies or according to vegan diet.

However, on the merits, the approach poses no nutritional problem, according to the nutritionist Ruth Ellenberger. “A vegetarian diet for three days has no negative impact on the health of a child.” Children are able to adapt to temporary food novelty, especially from the age of six, she said. In addition to the controversy, the rest of the stay attracted. “The program was sensational and the monitors were very invested,” admits Irene Bucher. On the organizers side, we are delighted with the majority of positive feedback: “more than 10,000 children have experienced three days of adventure, sharing and movement,” concludes Luca Belci.