Estimated average number of Calories consumed per day: 3,850
Number of times I've eaten meat on this trip: 6
Number of times I've had to resort to shopping at Wal-Mart: 0
Number of times I've resorted to stealing from Wal-Mart: 1
I'm sitting in a restaurant, empty plate in front of me, mildly sad that my meal disappeared so quickly. I don't think I remembered to chew. I eye the couple eating next to me, and note the woman lightly picking at her plate. Yes! Conditions are perfect, the only trick is working the timing between when they're done but before the waitress comes back. I wait until I see her pick up her purse. At that cue, I lean over and politely ask a question I already know the answer to: "Excuse me, are you finished eating that?"
Up until just a few weeks ago, it would've been accurate for me to say that I'm always hungry. Surprisingly enough, though, I've recently noticed a slight decrease in food consumption. Maybe my body is reaching some sort of equilibrium of efficiency.
Given the sheer amount of energy that one must consume in order to counterbalance the amount spent on a trip like this, it's very easy for food to become the focus of attention all the time. I constantly daydream about meals that I can't have (oh god, my kingdom for a Paseo sandwich); I think about what I'm going to eat next, what I can afford to buy, how to maximize calorie per dollar ratio whole still maintaining some semblance of nutritional content. Unfortunately, real food is also extremely hard to find while on the road. I don't know when was the last time you tried to do your grocery shopping at a gas station or mom 'n' pop hole in the wall, but almost everything readily available is processed beyond belief (and no, it really doesn't have to be this way). So, I do the best I can within these constraints and my relative lack of a kitchen, and sometimes just have to rely on the fact that whatever crap I put into my body right now will be sweat out within a couple of hours.
I'm carrying a little pop-can camp stove that I use to cook my dinners, and to that end, I always try and keep well stocked in the staples: olive oil, salt, chipotle powder, lime, onion, and garlic at a minimum. I usually have some vegetables to add to this, most often tomatoes, zucchini, avocado and carrots (yes, I know some of these are fruits). All that is needed now is a can of the best thing to ever happen to canned food, and the possibilities are endless (and yet, somehow still end up coming out the same every time anyway). It might be a bit extravagant to carry all of this around, but it makes such a big difference in quality of life to have something resembling real food every night; besides, I burned myself out on macaroni and cheese six weeks ago.
Some other staples: tortillas (in place of bread), nut butter, some type of jam, cheese, dried fruit, nuts, cereal, and any fresh fruit and vegetables when and wherever possible. Some things never get old; I could probably eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for the rest of my life and die happy. Likewise, dried pineapple and crystallized ginger will never go out of fashion. Other things get old fast: good as it is, I don't think I'm going to be able to eat Indian food again for a while.
Dinner in the works.
I rarely go out to eat, but when I do, it's either for something local that I'll never be able to have somewhere else, or for something fatty and deep-fried as possible. The local food can be kind of iffy sometimes (I stayed away from the Rocky Mountain oysters), great others, uninspiring and repetitive others. (I swear on my life that all people eat in northern Michigan is smoked fish, fudge, maple syrup, wild rice, ice cream and pasties.)
One of the hardest things has been missing out on the benefits of a garden, though I've still been able to do some foraging along the way. Right now there are apples everywhere, little native blackberries if you keep your eyes open, even mushrooms if you know what you're doing (I successfully identified and ate my first ever mushrooms just yesterday, the robust laetiporus). There are often little farmers' stands selling whatever is in season, and even tables set near the roadside of rural houses, piled with free extras.
My biggest craving has been for any kind of fermented food: yogurt or kefir, sauerkraut and kim chi, beer (of course), kombucha, I haven't been able to get enough of any of these. More than anything, though, I crave more of an investment with my food. I dream of spending long hours in a kitchen sweating over tedious projects: baking bread, making sushi, pies with lattice tops. When I'm done with this trip, I expect I'll spend a few days living in a kitchen to make up for perpetual snacking that has become so routine. In the meantime, though, let's hear it for handfuls of dry cereal!
word. i think i doubled my daily caloric intake riding down the coast. constant snack attack. started eating meat too, just for caloric density/relatively unprocessedness. i had it easy though, as there were a fair number of bakeries, brewpubs, and nice natural grocery stores along the way.
ReplyDeleteif you are fiending for something fermented/a cooking project, you could probably pull off an easy overnight of batter -> sourdough pancakes.
Scott, when you come to Eugene again, I would love to spend a few hours with you in the kitchen making some good food. Thanks for writing all of this, you are my hero.
ReplyDelete-Calyn