The Backcountry Recipe Book, Version 3.1

for ESAR post 616 which got us into the mountains (hard core!!) and all other outdoor enthusiasts.

Welcome to the backcountry recipe book. This section will explain the contents listed on the Table of Contents, describe how the book can best be used, and give acknowledgements. For lunchtime recipes more appropriate for car campers, click here.

or you can jump to the Table of Contents.

To start, the recipe book was the idea of Kelly Naylor and David Rosenberg, and it's intent is to provide a collection of food ideas which can be used in the back country while camping/skiing/hiking/backpacking/etc.. After going on a winter mountaineering trip, in which rather bland and uninteresting food was prepared and (sometimes) eaten, we wanted to find some cool recipes to try and enjoy eating in the wilderness. Eating, we believe, is one of the wilderness's still hidden pleasures, and should be cherrished. Below are our collections, sent in from globe-spanning Internet-ers, and we offer them to you as food possibilities to incorporate into your own backcountry diet. Each author's recipe-related antidote is included (as available); hopefully the stories will add interest and spark enthusiasm for an otherwise, ordinary food book. For some human reason, the backcountry has always consisted, in part, of telling stories, and we wanted to include that aspect in our book.

Please keep in mind that the recipes are other's ideas--most we have not even tried ourselves--and that at *some* time, because a backcountry user volunteered them to us, the recipe was delicious!! Of course, when you first try it on some exposed, wind blown mountaintop in an unplanned bivy, things and taste may turn out a tad bit different. ;)

Of course, feel free to join this food community, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE submit your own recipe ideas--big or small, recipe or just thoughts, stories and/or experience: knowledge is only useful when shared.

To add structure to this consortium of ideas, we have grouped recipes according to their most appropriate Table of Contents' listing. The Assorted section was born because the submissions within were either: (a) not classifiable in any of the other topics, or (b) so densly packed with cool suggustions applying to many different sections that I did not want to lose the author's general concepts by chopping and scattering the individual suggustions. At the beginning of each recipe section, we have included a further explanation of the types of recipes described within (to help you better access the recipes you would like to try). Also, we have included some of our thoughts on preparing food which relates to the topic and documented observations, gained from our own, personal, backcountry experiences. Mostly our introductions are just considerations, things to think about when you meal plan; nothing we (or any of the other contributers) say, by far, is absolute or written in stone.

At the bottom of the Table of Contents is a link to the Recipe Index, which lists the names of each recipe idea (categorized by section as they appear in the text) as local hyperlinks. We've included the listing as an index so that the links do not clog the Table of Contents. Please note that some recipe ideas listed under the Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/etc actually come from the assorted or assorted vegetarian sections. The Recipe Index is intended to concisely show the reader what recipe ideas are available under a given topic.

A note of caution: our recipe book is not intended to provide comprehensive meal planning for extended trips; comprehensive planning requires a food philosophy (i.e.: what is most nutritious/caloric/tasty food substance for given weight, etc, which is the domain of diet experts and YOURSELF); such planning depends on individual trip circumstances and varies for each backcountry user. We don't want to preach a food philosophy, rather we just want to provide tasty alternative ideas to substitute into your own meals. Hopefully, by reading our book, you'll want to try a few new ideas--or maybe just one recipe from one of our sections--on your upcoming trip. Good Luck, and happy (improved) eating on the trails!!

Special Thanks go out to David Damouth, who forwarded me over 25 pages of raw, unedited, recipe material, and everyone who contributed recipe ideas. Thank you for the Technical Support from the folks at GORP, who did the version 1.0 HTML coding (before I learned HTML myself) and wrote the first version of the Recipe Submission Form processor program. Finally, thank you authors for taking the time to share with the outdoors community: we appreciate it!!

I have tried to give proper credit to all authors, although with our over 200+ contributions, that has been difficult. If you see a recipe that is your idea and your name isn't mentioned, please email back, so that your name can be included in updates.

Finally, since the information and ideas contained herewithin are for the public domain, it is inappropriate to sell reproductions of this book or any section thereof.

Enough of the editorializing. Enjoy eating the recipes :)

David Rosenberg
der10@cornell.edu
2-15-94

Table of Contents:

Recipe Index

A hyperlinked listing of the recipes which are in each section. Please note some ideas listed under each main-meal (breakfast/lunch/dinner) actually come from the assorted or assorted vegatarian sections. section.