Stories of gastronomic delight
After a few weeks on the trail, the main focus usually becomes FOOD. Conversations, no matter what the subject, will invariably end up with some reference to food in some way. It is a known fact that one must eat to live, and thru hikers really know how to live! Sometimes you might wonder how they could live after consuming that much food, but believe me, it can be done. Below are stories related to food and how much can be eaten and still live to tell the tale. If you would like to submit a story about the experiences you have witnessed as you, or someone else, shovelled down massive amounts of food along the Appalachian Trail, send an email with the information to: info@atmuseum.org
"The Chapter 11 Notice" by George Steffanos GA-MA '83 (see June 24)
Trail Gourmets an excerpt from the book "Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike" by John Gignilliat
The shelter was full because of so many just starting their hike, so we picked a spot for our tent off to one side of the shelter amongst the congestion of late arrivals. When all of the tenters began cooking dinner in a nearby clearing, various Lipton Noodle Dinners and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese packages came out of packs. Soon there was a medley of hissing camp stoves, boiling pots, and hungry hiker talk.
While we were eating, someone leaned over and queried, “What are you having for dinner, Port and Starb'ard?”
I stared into our pot and responded, “Tonight we're having sirloin tips and brussel sprouts in a lyonnaise sauce on a bed of couscous . . . garnished with slivered almonds.”
That was the beginning of our reputation as trail gourmets. We had more than we could eat and soon everyone was sampling our delicious dinner. Eight months before we left, Carol (Starb’ard) began a dehydrating frenzy using two dehydrators she bought and a third one she had borrowed. Her favorite was one that had both a fan and a thermostat. These were very useful features as the fan distributed the heat evenly and the thermostat allowed her to control the drying time. Carol dehydrated six months’ worth of dinners including barbecues, chilies, chicken and turkey casseroles, spaghetti sauces, beef tips, and corned beef and cabbage. As a base for many of these dinners, she bought numerous gourmet sauces and soups. Days on end, our kitchen was alive with delicious aromas of recipes bubbling on the stove or food drying in the dehydrators. I would look in the pots and inquire, “What's for dinner?”
“Don't touch that food! It's for our hike,” she would scold and I would be relegated to eating a scrambled egg sandwich.
Carol dehydrated every vegetable imaginable and then combined them with the meats and sauces in a Seal-a-Meal. The the completed dinner was put in a zip-lock bag along with a portion of angel hari pasta, instant brown rice, or couscous. For lunches and snacks we dehydrated sirloin steak as beef jerky using a variety of marinades. Carol dried numerous types of fruit: melons, apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, pears, tangerines, strawberries, and fifteen watermelons. I made thirty, one pound bags of GORP (a hiker acronym for Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) using the pecans from the trees in our yard and combining them with dates, cashews, macadamia and hazelnuts, raisins, figs, sunflower and pumpkin seed, and M&Ms. For breakfasts Carol made a number of batches of granola and we bought an assortment of hot cereals.
Using our maps, a list of post offices along the trail, and a calendar; we carefully sorted this huge mountain of food into twelve boxes. We tried to put a variety of meals in each box and adjust for differences in distances between post offices. To each box we added maps, boot oil, pre-addressed postcards, and other sundries we thought might be useful. This load of boxes we delivered to Carol's daughter in Raleigh with a sheet giving the date to release each box. It all took a tremendous amount of work, planning, and organization; but it was already paying off.
"The Chapter 11 Notice" by George Steffanos GA-MA '83 (see June 24)
Trail Gourmets an excerpt from the book "Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike" by John Gignilliat
The shelter was full because of so many just starting their hike, so we picked a spot for our tent off to one side of the shelter amongst the congestion of late arrivals. When all of the tenters began cooking dinner in a nearby clearing, various Lipton Noodle Dinners and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese packages came out of packs. Soon there was a medley of hissing camp stoves, boiling pots, and hungry hiker talk.
While we were eating, someone leaned over and queried, “What are you having for dinner, Port and Starb'ard?”
I stared into our pot and responded, “Tonight we're having sirloin tips and brussel sprouts in a lyonnaise sauce on a bed of couscous . . . garnished with slivered almonds.”
That was the beginning of our reputation as trail gourmets. We had more than we could eat and soon everyone was sampling our delicious dinner. Eight months before we left, Carol (Starb’ard) began a dehydrating frenzy using two dehydrators she bought and a third one she had borrowed. Her favorite was one that had both a fan and a thermostat. These were very useful features as the fan distributed the heat evenly and the thermostat allowed her to control the drying time. Carol dehydrated six months’ worth of dinners including barbecues, chilies, chicken and turkey casseroles, spaghetti sauces, beef tips, and corned beef and cabbage. As a base for many of these dinners, she bought numerous gourmet sauces and soups. Days on end, our kitchen was alive with delicious aromas of recipes bubbling on the stove or food drying in the dehydrators. I would look in the pots and inquire, “What's for dinner?”
“Don't touch that food! It's for our hike,” she would scold and I would be relegated to eating a scrambled egg sandwich.
Carol dehydrated every vegetable imaginable and then combined them with the meats and sauces in a Seal-a-Meal. The the completed dinner was put in a zip-lock bag along with a portion of angel hari pasta, instant brown rice, or couscous. For lunches and snacks we dehydrated sirloin steak as beef jerky using a variety of marinades. Carol dried numerous types of fruit: melons, apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, pears, tangerines, strawberries, and fifteen watermelons. I made thirty, one pound bags of GORP (a hiker acronym for Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) using the pecans from the trees in our yard and combining them with dates, cashews, macadamia and hazelnuts, raisins, figs, sunflower and pumpkin seed, and M&Ms. For breakfasts Carol made a number of batches of granola and we bought an assortment of hot cereals.
Using our maps, a list of post offices along the trail, and a calendar; we carefully sorted this huge mountain of food into twelve boxes. We tried to put a variety of meals in each box and adjust for differences in distances between post offices. To each box we added maps, boot oil, pre-addressed postcards, and other sundries we thought might be useful. This load of boxes we delivered to Carol's daughter in Raleigh with a sheet giving the date to release each box. It all took a tremendous amount of work, planning, and organization; but it was already paying off.