Cooking up the good life

We are one month into our Patagonian biking adventure.  It has been a trip that has taken many turns, brought us many places both physically and emotionally, and has included much focus and attention to every meal in general, and the available food in particular.  Because we are biking, we are limited in terms of what we are able to carry with us.  These photos will show just how loaded down we are.  Only two of these twelve panniers (bike bags) contain food.

Needless to say, with all this weight, we seem to be hungry constantly, so carrying enough food to keep everyone energized throughout the day, and well fed in camp has been a challenge.  On top of this logistical challenge, is the more immediate and in many ways surprising challenge of finding relatively good, real, and whole foods to include in our daily diet.  We have been traveling for one month now, have cycled over 400 kilometers through extraordinary landscapes, and visited many charming, small and remote towns. It has been my hope to continue to provide vegetables-particularly of the green and orange variety, a range of proteins and whole grains to my family as often as possible.  This has proven to be difficult, and I am finding myself stymied by the limit of produce combined with the abundance of white flour and white sugar based, highly processed foods.

I am incredibly resourceful, and very well educated in matters of food and nutrition and am therefore able to creatively concoct  decent meals using soup mixes, available vegetables (typically carrots, tomatoes, squash and potatoes), beans, cheese or nuts and various spices and dehydrated things.  However, it gives me great appreciation and concern for the many people here, and in my own community who are forced to try to feed their families well-both healthfully and tastefully, given what is often available, and the limited resources, and often information that they have.

A cooking frenzy under the park shelter

I am trying to be careful to keep my often privelidged perspective in check.  I am grateful whenever I find a delicious local apple, or home made raspberry jam and recognize the generations of tradition these things represent.  I am also aware that the Nestle and Coca Cola trademarks are all too present no matter the size of the town, while good clean food may not be.

Local salmon ceviche and pebre in Hornopieren, Chile

We are in the midst of some of the most extraordinary landscapes I have ever seen.  Much of this wilderness is pristine and stunning.  I hope that we can find a way to honor and value the people who live amongst these stunning mountains and waterways by supporting (rebuilding?) an environment of good, clean, healthy food.

Blessed to be practicing yoga in the midst of great beauty