When traveling, the take it or leave it principle can be applied to food as well. While abroad, your options become limited mostly to whatever is put in front of you.
Over the years I have gotten better about being a picky eater. Now I will give almost any type of food a try (seafood is still difficult for me though). I start to get nervous about my food options when traveling abroad especially because your options become pretty limited to whatever the local cuisine is.
Your options become severely limited when you’re hiking Mount Kilimanjaro and the only option to serve is whatever food your cook provides. This terrified me. In my hiking pack I brought so much food is looked like I was stocked a bomb shelter with snacks for the next year.
Want to know what I was munching on? My favorite snack from the hike was chocolate chip Clif Bars. The peanut butter flavored Clif bars are good as well. Disclaimer though, I will not touch Cliff bars anymore after eating two a day for a week straight. Also Jif Peanut Butter packets To-Go were a life saver. I would add the peanut butter to bread the cook gave me to make little sandwiches and I would dip crackers in it. Welch’s strawberry fruit snacks were a sweet treat with my daily serving of 100% vitamin C.
Although I had some great snack foods as extra energy boosters, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food on Kili was. Our cook was awesome and made delicious food for every single meal.
A typical breakfast on the mountain consisted of an oatmeal porridge, sausage, eggs, toast, a banana, some melon, and hot chocolate or coffee. Lunch was usually eaten as we rested during the hike, so the cook packed us each a little lunch box with our food. The lunch box had a piece or baked chicken (usually a leg, breast or thigh), a hardboiled egg, a banana, a juice box, and a butter sandwich. No, I did not forget to type peanut, the sandwiches just had butter and bread. This is where my Jif To-Go packets were handy! For dinner, we always had some type of soup (leeks, carrot, zucchini, or squash), chicken or fish, rice, potatoes, and then a random side like peanuts or beans. There was always a banana for dessert also and instant hot chocolate or instant milk.
Something for you to look forward to are the fruit you get to eat, especially the bananas. Tanzanian bananas are much sweeter than those found in America. While I usually won’t eat bananas or melon, I loved them on my hike!
If you’re a picky eater like I used to be, I would definitely recommend packed some substantial snack foods like Cliff bars, FiberOne bars, or meal substitute bars in case your cook serves something you absolutely won’t try. That being said, this is a once in a lifetime trip and Tanzanian food is really good so even if you are a picky eater, give the food a chance because I’m sure you will love it!
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| Typical breakfast on Kilimanjaro |
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| Typical breakfast on Kilimanjaro |
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| Typical dinner on Kilimanjaro |
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| Typical dinner on Kilimanjaro |
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