A word about food

This year for Christmas Tom got 2 great hiking cook books from my parents, and we spent last night pouring over them. One is Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin' by Christine Conners and Tim Conners, and the other is Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpacking and Paddling by Alan Kesselheim. They are both fantastic- full of amazing recipes, tips, and ideas. Full reviews will come later once we have entirely devoured the books, and tested some of the recipes, but just reading them is making me so excited to be crouching over a small alcohol stove on the trail. Tom and I are currently looking for a food dehydrator on Craig's List, because we think it will make our lives easier and more pleasurable, especially with our dietary restrictions. There is very little processed, prepared food that is vegan, and/or gluten free, so we are going to need to make most of it from scratch. Both Tom and I love to cook, and we love a good activity, however, so we are excited by the prospect.

Maybe this is a good time to explain a little about our diets. I have been an ovo-lacto vegetarian (meaning I refrain from eating meat and fish) on and off since I was about 15. When I was 20 I became vegan, and followed a strict diet void of all animal products until I realized I was gluten free when I was 22. I tried to be a gluten free vegan for a while, but it became increasingly difficult to find things to eat, so I reverted to vegetarianism shortly after my gluten free diagnosis. For those who are unfamiliar with gluten intolerance (also known as celiac disease), it is an auto-immune digestive disease which that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, spelt, kamut and barley. Gluten intolerance presents itself differently in each person, but I was plagued for years with many medical issues (mainly a terrible rash covering my body), and mis-diagnosed numerous times until Tom and I eventually figured out my problem on our own. Although it requires me to follow a strict (and often inconveniencing) diet, I feel so much healthier now that I have cut gluten out of my diet.

Tom has agreed to discuss his dietary choices at a later date, and to refrain from too much "vegangelicalism". To make our lives easier on the trail, we will both be eating to accommodate one another, with the exception of me having some cheese or powdered milk, and Tom having pretzels or other gluten-containing foods. We plan on eating a lot of corn pasta, lentils, rice, and dehydrated vegetables and proteins such as beans and tofu. We have also found hummus mix and powdered soy milk in bulk, as well as soy jerky products. In the end, it is practically impossibly to go hungry in today's modern world. And as both vegan and gluten free diets are growing in popularity, acceptable foods are becoming more accessible. While this is the case, however, we are going to be mailing most of our food to ourselves along the way to ensure that we don't need to survive a week on peanut butter and almonds.