Confessions of Camp Howard

Camp Howard, director of campus dining at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, would like to visit 1940s Paris, does not understand sushi and admires Mick Jagger.

Q. What is the best part of your job?

Making people happy with our food.

Q. What is the worst part of your job?

Driving home.

Q. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Becoming director of campus dining and earning my CEC credentials.

Q. What is the most unusual foodservice/catering request you have ever received?

Catering a wedding on a bridge spanning the Cumberland River.

Q. If you weren't in foodservice what would you be doing?

Photographer for National Geographic.

Q. Which living person do you most admire?

Mick Jagger.

Q. What is your favorite meal?

Cheeseburger, fries and Coke.

Q. What will people always find in your refrigerator?

Ten different types of hot sauce.

Q. What is the weirdest food you have ever eaten?

Durian. [Editor’s Note: A fruit from Indonesia.]

Q. What do you consider to be the most overrated foodservice trend?

Sushi.

Q. If you had a time machine what historical event or era would you visit?

Any restaurant or café in 1946 Paris.

Q. What would be your dream vacation?

An eating excursion through Tuscany.

Q. If you could eat dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be?

Julia Child and Mick Jagger, preferably at the same time.

Q. What is your most treasured possession?

Camera.

Q. What activity is at the top of your bucket list?

Backpacking through Yosemite National Park.

Q. Who is your favorite celebrity chef?

Bill Claypool. [Editor’s Note: Claypool is Vanderbilt’s executive chef.]