Cooking up the good life

We have finished our Patagonian bike journey and returned to our apartment in Mendoza!  It was an incredibly enjoyable trip in many ways, and in other ways a very difficult one.  In all ways, it was truly successful and a learning process for all of us.

If you know me, you know that I am very physically active, and thrive on physical challenge.  I LOVE to push my body to work hard and thoroughly enjoy the endorphin high and feeling of strength and accomplishment that result. In fact, I generally prefer going up to going down. In the region of northern Patagonia there are few paved roads, so the most difficult challenge for me was riding the ‘ripio’.  This is not simply a gravel road, but an uneven surface with potholes, washboard  and many loose rocks, often the size of baseballs.  On my (fabulous Surley Long Haul Trucker) touring bike with a tag-along, a 50 pound child and 6 panniers attached, all of my concentration and energy (both physical and mental) was devoted to keeping upright and moving forward.

Despite these demanding elements, biking in this region brought constant rewards of extraordinary scenery- forested mountains and snow capped peaks often surrounding pristine turquoise lakes or rivers, and in the heat, the promise of a refreshing swim.  The other reward was the pleasure of eating during, and after a long hard day of biking.

As always with camping, one must be creative about packing food.  There is no refrigeration and limited space in general.  Out of 12 panniers (bike bags), we had two devoted to food and all our cooking supplies including pots, pans, stove, bowls and utensils, an additional bag on the back rack for easy access lunch items, and my handlebar bag filled with instant snack items like crackers, chocolate, cookies and nuts  In addition to the limited amount of space was the possibly more complicated problem of finding the type of food we like to eat in some of the small, remote communities where we were traveling.  As per my last post, finding vegetables was a challenge in itself, and variety was fairly limited. In Patagonia, berries are ubiquitous (see the past post on our stay at a strawberry farm) but not easy to pack. I used them when I could, and we always had good marmalade.  I am still confused about the lack of leafy greens in general here and have come to believe it is more of a cultural distance from these foods than any inability to grow them (heck, if I can grow kale and collards anyone can!)

In general, I do not eat things from a mix. Besides the fact that I am a chef who teaches and preaches scratch cooking, I find mixes generally overly salty, lacking in texture and grainy in texture, not to mention that they are loaded with things like Monosodium Glutamate, artificial flavoring and several versions of sugar and salt.  All of that said, I resorted to and relied on these mixes for many of our meals.  They were light, added bulk and some flavor and were always easier to find and carry than fresh vegetables. When possible, I bought local cheese, and it is easy to find bread (‘pan amasado’-literally kneaded bread often sold at roadside stands) and other versions of fried dough just about anywhere.

I found myself challenged in terms of creativity and ingredients much like many of the people that I teach.  It was often frustrating, and unsatisfying to cook and eat this way, and there were several times when it left me longing for something else. This gave me great empathy and helped me to think through this problem in new ways.  What are the most basic things a person needs to have and to know in order to eat well?  How much energy and time does it take to make good, wholesome food when the situation is less than ideal?  Can it even be done?  I am a lucky person.  I was traveling through extraordinary landscapes by choice, and the limits and shortcomings in our ‘pantry’ were temporary. In addition, I was able to take advantage of local producers with some regularity and although many of these items were not ‘whole foods’ at least they were fresh and hand made.  It is complicated to determine which of these priorities is most important, and equally important to relax, and enjoy the food you have and the opportunity to share it with those you love in a comfortable, and hopefully, a beautiful place.