Food and Cooking - part 1

Articles In This Section:

· Food and Cooking - part 1

· Food and Cooking - part 2

· Food and Cooking - part 3

· Food and Cooking - part 4

Food used in winter mountaineering must meet the following requirements:

1) The food must have minimum weight for adequate food value. About 4200 kilogram calories per day are re quired by an active man on a mountaineering trip. Light weight is obtained primarily by using dehydrated foods and secondarily by selecting foods with a high caloric value. About 21/4 pounds per man-day of such foods are required.

2) Food used should be readily digestible and should be balanced between fat, protein, and carbohydrates (starches and sugar).

3) Good keeping qualities and easy packaging are es sential. Bottles and cans are undesirable. They add weight and bulk. Food which can be placed in completely water proof bags, tied at the top, can be carried most readily. Several items can be dry-mixed at home to eliminate extra bags and facilitate preparation at camp.

4) Food taken must be easy to prepare quickly and with simple equipment. For this reason it is desirable to take precooked foods, some of which may be eaten cold if something should happen to the stove. Because the boiling point of water decreases with the altitude, cook ing time is about doubled for every 5,000-foot rise in elevation. Cooking time for some of the grains, such as rice, is reduced to less than half if they are precooked. This may be done at home by baking at 300-350° F until the first sign of browning.

5) Strenuous activity in dry, high-mountain air causes more perspiration—and attendant loss of salt—than is frequently realized. This must be replaced by extra salt ing of food. Muscle cramps and mountain sickness are often signs of salt deficiency.

6) Enough vitamins must be obtained. In the accom panying list foods particularly rich in Vitamin A are marked on the list with an asterisk (*), those with Vitamin Bi with a plus sign ( + ), those with B₂ with a cross (X), and those with Vitamin C with a circle (°). Vitamin C is the least readily obtained among foods which are otherwise suitable. Vitamin sufficiency for trips of only 3 or 4 days is not essential.

Food requirements may be met by food selected from the following list. Selections within each group are subject to the taste of the individual, but the weight selected from each group should be approximately as indicated. The total requirement of food from each group for a given trip is obtained by multiplying the pounds per man-day, times the number of men, times the number of days.