What's on the menu?
Quality and hearty meals on a trek is critical - especially on a long, arduous and often unpredicable expedition. On a single trek typically lasting 2 or 3 weeks, you can probably get by on noodle soup, maybe even lose weight in the process. Though, I'm sure that would quickly get boring and wouldn't be very nutritious. For a 5-month walk you need both energy and nutrition, hence the good food provided by World Expeditions make sure you eat to the max at every meal.
They even cater for special dietary needs, such as vegan or gluten-free. Here's a breakdown of the various foods I've had on the trail. From pasta and dahl to apple pies and semolina puddings, you'd be surprised what the cook crew can whip up on a remote trek in Nepal.
Breakfast
During breakfast, coffee, tea or chocolate, with milk made from milk powder is offered. A non-choice of usually porridge, sometimes cinnamon flavoured rice pudding, and every few days an additional choice of yogurt made from a powder from New Zealand. On rare occasions, I get a yogurt that is pale yellow and especially delicious - I was told it was Greek style. There’s also corn flakes, muesli and granola available.
Then a chapatti of various styles or pancake is paired with eggs – usually omelette with greens mixed in, or fried, scrambled or hard-boiled egg. Condiments include salt and pepper, tomato ketchup and a green chilli sauce. There are also jams of orange marmalade, red jam, honey, and peanut butter.
Lunch & Dinner
We start with a warm soup, which can be a varying mix of either tomato, chicken, mushroom, or noodles with greens.
The main course can be a variety ranging from: pasta, spaghetti, potatoes, rice, pizza, vegetables (often cauliflower, frequently local greens), salad (usually two of cucumber, radish, carrots) sliced or shredded (with cabbage and mayonnaise). The carbohydrates may be garnished with cheese. Sometimes there is egg curry. Sometimes there is meat; always chunks in sauce – usually chicken, spam, tuna, sometimes goat.
Then a dessert of either apple quarter, banana, canned mix fruits, canned mango, canned pear, canned pineapple, jelly, Indian style sponge balls in syrup, cinnamon flavoured rice pudding, semolina pudding, old style Kathmandu apple pie or pomegranate red seeds.
Lunch is accompanied with pawpaw, pineapple, mango, orange juice made from a powder.
All water for cooking and drinking is boiled. At every meal your water bottles can be filled with this hot water. Useful for a water bottle at night.
Afternoon tea consists of the usual beverages with biscuits. Oreos are the most popular, and there’s the delicious coconut variety, but often it’s a mix of plain, savoury biscuits as well.
The function of afternoon tea is to rehydrate. The Himalayan air is very dry, and you breathe a lot.
When lunch is not possible, usually because of a lack of water en route, a packed lunch in a bag is given to you at breakfast. It usually consists of chapattis, a hard-boiled egg, a piece of cheese, biscuits, a slice of apple, and a candy bar; each individually wrapped in aluminium foil.
The great thing is that there is always extra. My doctor would be horrified at the amount of carbohydrate I eat, then amazed at the amount of exercise!
- Brian
