One might think that enduring a trek into the high mountains of Nepal includes privations of diet. Not so! Our cook staff feed us royally and, after a plea from a member of the previous Medex expedition for lots of food this time, the quantities are huge. So far also, our appetites are holding up and not yet suffering from the effects of altitude.
The ability of our Sherpa staff to provision for such a trek is awesome. Eggs appear each morning at breakfast, boiled or omeletted! This is after the early morning call whilst still In our sleeping bags of "bed tea"! Porridge or rice pudding, chipatties or pancakes are conjured up on primus stoves powered by kerosene in tiny camp kitchens to date in borrowed stone huts in the local villages but soon to be in freezing tents at base camp.
There is no shortage of drinks, at lunch, at afternoon tea and at dinner - hot water at the latter fills our water bottles for the next day doubling up as hot water bottles to warm our toes in our sleeping bags for the night.
We feast on soup, with popadoms, prawn crackers or popcorn. Main meals are packed with chips and pizza, rice, pasta and potatoes, accompanied by deep fried cauliflower, aubergine and onions. Lots of carbs to power us up the trails. Fresh salad tomatoes, cucumber, radish, carrots and cabbage also appear daily, Goodness only knows where they are coming from. Protein is in shorter supply, with tinned fish, spam, chipolatta sausages or cheese, with very occasional chicken and yak meat in curry. Puddings are often fruit - a favourite being tinned mango but a request for a cake produced an amazing feat of baking. So those hoping for a side effect of trekking to be a good diet may yet be disappointed!
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