After nearly 50 years (49 years at the time of writing) of going on overnight paddling trips, this year we made some fundamental changes to our daily catering arrangements. These changes involved the evening meals and they appeared to work in a really positive way, on both of our longer trips.
I think it was Nicky who suggested we modified our arrangements, so we found ourselves, sitting in Mexico, drawing names out of a hat. Pairs selected at random as opposed to culinary skill or marital status. There were 8 of us in Baja in March, resulting in 4 teams of 2. Each pair was responsible for buying the food whilst in La Paz and preparing it, once we were on the trip
We repeated the process when heading to Greenland in July, the excitement of the draw helped pass the time at Copenhagen Airport. On this trip there were 6 of us, meaning we had 2 evenings out of 3, off from catering duties. Once we had our partners we drew the basis of our meals, Simon and myself had the challenge of making delicious rice based meals. Whilst others had pasta or mashed potato as the foundation of theirs.
Dividing into pairs so early in the trip helped make the shopping simpler as well as introducing a slightly competitive edge. To spice things up we purchased some fresh vegetables and frozen musk ox meat. Other groups were perhaps more traditional with their main courses but pushed the boat out with the starters. Nicky and Iris produced caviar on flatbread one night, as the starter. Simon and myself stuck with the more traditional nachos for pre-dinner snacks.
We could not be described as desperate alcoholics but a visit to the Copenhagen Airport Duty Free enabled us to occasionally have a drink with the meal. A small glass of Pernod with glacial ice was a pre-meal favourite. Perhaps a small glass of red wine with the meal followed by a warming Calvados. Living so close to Normandy, enjoying a small glass of this liquor is no real surprise.
One very important change is that when you do the cooking you also do the washing up, so you really do get the night off from domestic duties. Time to sit and read, go for a walk, take photos etc without experiencing the slightest pangs of guilt.
So next time you are heading out on a multi day trip why not consider modifying the catering arrangements. The element of competition could result in some gastronomic delights but equally important it will allow you some down time to reflect on the days paddling, which is such an important consideration.