Over the years I have had many interesting meals when out tramping, many of them memorable for a number of reasons.
I have noticed that for some people evening meals can be more than a topping up of energy for the coming day in fact some of the creations I have witnessed would stand up easily at a good cafe or restaurant
I am firmly in the "Fuel" camp. My priorities are weight, ease of preparation and sufficient energy for the next day.
Having said that there a couple of great food experiences that stand out.
One was returning to Bluff on a fishing boat after 10 days on Rakiura and opening and eating fresh oysters that had been at the bottom of Foveaux Strait only an hour before
Another was arriving at the head of Lake Rotoroa in Nelson Lakes a week into a solo 12 day trip and finding some fishermen smoking freshly caught trout which they generously shared with me
One meal that stands out for different reasons was breakfast in the pouring rain on an outward bound tramp. It was porridge that managed to be both raw and burnt at the same time - classic
Following the same general theme I often have food cravings or fantasies after a decent period in the bush usually centered around some sort of fresh bread (often fruit buns ). Hot and savoury pastry is another common desire
My favorite is a Thai curry. With group cooking it cant be as hot as I sometimes like but very nice all the same. Sometimes vegetarian sometimes not. Red is best but green is still good
Fuel - BCC meals, but I'm normally only on overnighters, not these missions that some of you do
Someone opened a tin of chicken chunks in mayonnaise and made pita pocket bread sandwiches on Day 5 of a 7 day tramp. ::). Could of killed for that !.
My own fault really. Lightweight food for fuel to get from A to B, for however many days is the rule.
Usually a double-meat Hawaiian burger on the way home. :)
Ah, food envy. Aside from the smell of bacon I recall a soggy lunch stop in the rain at the old Long Harry hut and while we nibbled miserably on yet another lot of crackers and cheese, the other party cooked up savoury rice risotto and filled little pita pockets with this.
After 17 days thumping around the himalaya eating rice and veg I was fantasizing about a fresh orange and coke. Even though you can pick up coke in most lodges I resisted till day 15. When I had it I was bouncing off the walls. The orange I found in Kathmandu and it was good.
I hear you about the trout. Had some fly ins cook me some fresh trout and it was better than couscous for sure.
But what I look forward to after a few days is a can of coke. Or a hunk of steak haha.
@Gaiters, I agree.
I hardly ever drink cola of any sort but after a decent slog I crave fish'n'chips and cola (or beer)
Though desperately buying chips from unfamiliar shops on the way home can be a let down.
Last summer tramp (Andrews-Casey-Binser) we weighed down a few bottles of Royal Crown Draft cola in the stream by Andrews shelter.
After doing Binser saddle and the road slog back to the car in the hot sun it was like drinking Nectar of the Gods.
This post has been edited by the author on 16 July 2016 at 20:58.
"After 17 days thumping around the himalaya eating rice and veg I was fantasizing about a fresh orange and coke."
After about 40 days in north western Nepal (Dolpo), with at least another 15 to go, I remember fantasizing about eating rice and veg again. We'd been on nothing but maize flour porridge for a couple of weeks. We got to somewhere where we could again buy rice, beans, potatoes, onions, oil and thought we were in heaven.
my preference is for something thats high density fuel thats very dry packed.. then work out how to tart it up if you want to, rather than eating something you're choosing primarily for its appeal.
each to their own, theres no point taking good fuel that you're going to find unpalatable and arent going to eat much of.
i was in cadets and we'd get army rations, canned food that looked and smelt like pet food, hard tack biscuits, a lot of the guys ate as little as they could get away with because it was of a lower standard of flavour than they were used to. One guy was eating one meal a day, some guys just threw away what they didnt want to eat when they thought no one was looking
never ceases to amaze me when you see people several days into a trip who pull out fresh veges, bread, fruit, tinned food with wet contents...
saw someone pull out a kilo glass jar of jam on the fourth day of a trip, jam had hardly been touched, they must have just picked up whatever took their fancy at the supermarket without thinking about how much they would really eat.
@ IanH man I would love to hike through dolpo. Did you get to shey gompa and crystal mountain?
