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A few years ago we reached out to WellSpan to assist our growing Conference and to assist us in pulling off this very complicated event.  We are very proud to announce a new member of our "Wild Med" family:

Rosie (Russ) Campisi, WellSpan's Corporate Executive Chef!!  When we tried to describe our event and it's vision to Russ, let's just say- his imagination started to go WILD!

Can you say: Gator fritters, ostrich, snapping turtle, Bison, and Gator & Crawfish Étouffée??

We asked him to add a gourmet survival and/or exotic flare to each of our meals this year!!

Here is his Bio:

Born in Agrigento Sicily; lived in Germany and Montreal. 

Culinary degree from Pennsylvania College of Technology,  Penn State in 1998, Private Training in New England through The American Culinary Federation, Achieved Designation as a Certified Executive chef through The American Culinary Federation from 2001 through 2006, Certified by The American Culinary Federation in Culinary Nutrition in 2001.

Certificate in Health Care Leadership from Penn State in 1999

Employed by Wellspan for 24 years. Title: Corporate Executive Chef. He oversees the production of 4,000 meals per day in three counties. 

Background is in Hotels, Catering, Fine Dining, Country Clubs, Every Style of Restaurant and Healthcare Food and Nutrition Services.

Claims to Fame: Cooked for 3 presidents and 2 vice presidents.  Cooked for a $1,000 per plate fundraiser with Senator Jay Rockefeller in attendance. Cooked for an individual Knighted by the Queen of England. 

Cooked for the late Senator John Heinz, last meal before his tragic plane crash.

Cooked for, then sat down to dinner with Paul Newman. Cooked for Ray Charles, George Winston, Sidney Poitier, Liza Minelli and other assorted celebrities.

Married for 29 years with 3 children.

Wild Med Kitchen: over 1,200 meals prepared and served in 48 hours in an outdoor setting!!

Pictured here is Kat Bowman (spouse of the insane guy who came up with this crazy Conference idea).  She was in charge of feeding everyone for this weekend.  By Sunday, everyone realized she was the hardest working person who made this event so amazing!!

No Hot Dogs or Burgers at this conference:​

​It's Gourmet Outdoor Cooking at its best!!!

Another successful Pig Roast!!

Archived!!! Meals

13th Annual Wilderness Medicine & Survival Skills Conference

September 20-22, 2019

Meals: Free with registration (and they are REALLY good!!)

This year's Wild Med Kitchen Theme: Exotic Meats

All meals from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch will be provided.
All six meals are prepared outdoors over an open fire.

Watch the WildMed Cook Crew work tirelessly all weekend keeping the cook fire going. Enjoy their cast iron and Dutch oven treats all weekend.

On Saturday there will be three separate fires ablaze: Pig Roast fire, WildMed Kitchen fire and the Campfire!

Saturday dinner will be a PIG ROAST! Enjoy watching the Pig Roasting process all day.

Ice Cream Social:  Saturday Evening!!  Make your own Ice Cream Sundae with numerous topping options!!

Vegetarian:
Vegetarian options are provided for each meal. Past examples include home-made Vegetable Soup (made from home-made vegetable stock), Quesadillas, etc. There will be a posted menu for each meal. There will be a “V” next to each vegetarian option.  If you are vegetarian, we invite you to the front of the chow line in order to secure enough food before anything runs out.

Picky Eaters:
We try to provide a gourmet touch to our outdoor cooking, but are aware of those with simpler tastes. Each meal will have some additional options for our picky eaters. Examples include PB&J, fruit, muffins, etc.

Additional Dietary categories:
Due to the complexity of pulling off such a complicated event, we will only be providing the options mentioned above. There should be enough food variety to accommodate most situations. If your dietary restrictions are complicated, you may want to bring some of your own food.

Coffee:

We will provide coffee during the advertised times for Breakfast.

Saturday 0730 - 0900

Sunday 0700 - 0830

The only recurring negative comment we get on the Course Evaluations is a request for more coffee.  It's actually become sort of a joke in the Wild Med inner circle. (Not sure if Kat thought the jokes were funny...)

We have been very successful in feeding over 200 people but it has surprised us how difficult it is to keep up with the coffee demands.  Last year we rented every large 60-cup coffee makers available in both York and Adams Counties!

K-cups:

In order to meet the coffee needs after Breakfast without overworking the Cook Crew, we came up with a simple solution.  We will have a Keurig Coffee maker in the food pavilion.  It will be self service.  We will supply cups and creamer & sugar packets.  We will also supply K-cups for a $1.00 donation.  We will provide decaf K-cups as well.

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