[pct-l] Food Revulsion

[Hans Hlawaty]

Dale,

A point well made and I appreciate your thoughts!  It will be interesting to
see if I experience any any of the symptoms you mention.  I guess part of
the fun (if you can call it that) of this trip will be stripping my
existence down to such bare necessities that I'm grateful for every morsel
of pemmican I can get.  I'm counting on being so ravenous that I don't have
the luxury of "food revulsion."  I think it will be instructive to view food
for what it really is: energy for the body.

If nothing else, I will have my bi-weekly resupply to load up on fresh
veggies, starches, and spices.

Bronze
http://manandmule.com

On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 7:33 PM, Dale Combs <comebackwalking at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Hans,
> Congratulations on having a grand adventure on its way.
> I wish you the best but I can't keep my thoughts to myself....
>
> My worry for you is the phenomena of "food revulsion."
>
> When I was a teenager, and didn't know how to cook, my climbing partner and
> I
> mostly raided pantries to get macaroni and cheese, tuna and cream of
> mushroom soup.
> One summer we went thru 21 boxes and  21 cans of tuna, and likewise of soup
> in 30 days. We were huge cheapskates, we never ate out, and the idea is we
> could climb as long as the money lasted. So we only spent money on gas for
> the most part. We never even used up half the money. But after 3 to 4 weeks
> we didn't want to climb anymore and we'd drive straight home 18 hours and
> the climbing would be done. I remember getting real depressed about the food
> all being the same. The worst time I remember crying because I thought I'd
> be happy if only I could have a peanut butter sandwich. I remember being in
> one of the most beautiful places in the world,  Garnet Canyon in the Tetons,
> and thinking how I hated climbing (I loved climbing!) and how I just wished
> that instead of rope and gear I wished I had gourmet food. Ten years later I
> was done climbing and 15 years after that I became a backpacker who carries
> gourmet food. (I can cook now. I love cooking).
>
> As a result of that teenage experience and because I love food and I love
> backpacking I became an amateur food philosopher of the dusty. One of my
> central theories is that having variety in your diet is of utmost
> psychological experience in terms of feelings of well being on the dusty.
> And eating the same thing over and over can be a trip killer when it's weeks
> on end..
>
> With that said, how can you increase the variety of what you'll be cooking
> while staying true to your historical authenticity? I'm not a historian
> (beyond what I see on cable tv).
> But how can you get some more variety of eating experience while staying
> true?
> Especially since you'll be using an alcohol stove instead of iron skillet
> and dutch oven.
>
>
> How can you broaden your list of authentic ingredients, broaden your number
> of menu items from the list of authentic ingredients.
>
> "Food revulsion" can take all the fun away. Maybe you can broaden the
> variety.
>
> I used to be a Boy Scout in the days before camp stoves and we made
> cobblers, I used to cook an egg in an onion section directly on the fire.
> Cook chickens on a spit etc. I used to
> bake apples on a stick and it was soooo good. But you have an alcohol
> stove. But fires are allowed in some areas but fires are frowned upon these
> days.
>
> I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I'll to find out what happened 6
> months from now.
>
> I think you're going be in for some surprises. Enjoy and keep your spirits
> up.
>
> Keep up the good work,
> Dale
>
>