Friday, October 17, 2014

The forgotten camping foods


patagonia provisions

Patagonia Provisions sockeye salmon is harvested from sustainable, river-caught runs. Photo by Johnie Gal



For a company best known for its fleece and down, Patagonia sure knows how to make a mean smoked salmon fillet. Which is newsworthy because, well, we’re beginning to get pretty tired of tuna in a can and PB&J sandwiches.


Healthy, natural, wholesome meals you can carry on backpacking trips are astonishingly hard to come by. Food—as in real food—is often too perishable, heavy, or poorly packaged to stash in a stuff sack.


Enter Patagonia.


In addition to reinventing the ice axe and the wetsuit, the outdoor outfitters are doing a pretty good job redefining backpacking food with their eco-friendly, socially responsible Patagonia Provisions line.


patagonia provisions salmon

Each package of salmon from Patagonia Provisions is fully cooked, but tastes great reheated over a fire. Photo by Johnie Gall



Marketed as delicious enough to serve at both sea-level dinner parties and high-alpine base camps, each food staple is harvested from environmentally responsible sources, refined by world-class chefs, and packaged in sealed, lightweight pouches.


On the menu as of this fall? Wild, river-caught sockeye salmon from the Pacific Northwest and a quick-cooking version of tsampa, a Himalayan power soup made with organic vegetables, grains, and spices.


Still, throwing out buzz phrases like “sustainable run harvesting” and “westernizing the flavors” doesn’t make a meal taste any better—so we did a little sampling of our own. Turns out both the Lemon Pepper and Original flavored wild sockeye salmon packs are as delicious as they’re touted to be, perfectly flakey and fully cooked (though we warmed ours up over the fire). At $12 for six ounces, a single pack is no bargain, but judging by the way we hastily ordered another box for future trips, you can’t put a price on good taste.


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