Happy Camper Cooks

So I figure I should start by introducing myself. I'm Phillip Camper, I have been cooking professionally off and on since 2005. As most of us do, I started in the dish pit, from there I moved up to frying chicken and flipping burgers. I hated it...

The only thing I liked about kitchens at first was the "Bourdanian" lifestyle. The misfits, the clowns, the debauchery...

I quickly realized that lifestyle was going to get me in a lot of trouble...

I left...

For a long four years, I enlisted in the USAF. I got as far away from cooking as I could. I enlisted as an Aircraft Fuel Systems Technician. (these skills have actually come in handy as a "chef".) I spent some time abroad, read deployed. However, to and from deployments, wherever we stopped. I would make it a point to "live like the locals." (Get drunk, and eat lots of food.)

Not long into my career in the Air Force, I found myself missing cooking. I started cooking constantly. Poorly, in hindsight. (my poor wife. I'm sorry, Kori.)I became obsessed, (again sorry, Kori.)My first culinary obsession,(and one that plagues me to this day) was BBQ. If I could cook it with smoke and/or open fire I did.

When I separated from the Air Force. I decided to go back to kitchens...

After, short stints in both agriculture and private security...

I've been here ever since. So that pretty much brings us up to date...

… Side note; moving forward I plan too start a podcast. I'm calling it "conversations with Friends." I'm going to record conversations with industry friends, craftsmen, farmers, and hopefully many more... I also plan to start making YouTube videos. In the mean time follow me here and on Instagram. Stay tuned fun content to come!