Food is an extremely important part of any travelling and when it comes to high altitude adventure like Everest Base Camp Trek, its importance becomes even more prominent. Your level of performance and degree of fun during trek is highly dependent on what and how you eat. So, it’s very crucial to know about the food varieties, their availability and “do’s & don’ts” of eating during Everest Base Camp Trek. Despite being far-off region, Everest Region is more comfortable compared to other trekking regions of Nepal when it comes to food specifics. You don’t have to stress much about food but still it’s not an easy affair like the luxury you enjoy back home. Better prepared than be surprised (or shocked?)! So, here are few things you need to know about food during your Everest Base Camp Trek.
Lunch at Thukla during Everest Base Camp Trek
Where do you eat?
A Teahouse Dining Hall at Pheriche in Everest Region
It’s very rare to find fancy outlets for food and drink during the trek. However, in some busier hubs like Lukla, Phakding, Namche, you can find nice restaurants, cozy pubs and cafes with wider range of choices. Otherwise, in most of the places, you eat at the tea houses that are strewn along the trail. They provide modest food and lodging facilities (with exception of some luxury lodges that provide upscale services). Every tea house has a big dining room, most of them with a big heater in the middle to keep you warm during evenings. Normally, such rooms are more than an eating area as it also serves as a place for gathering, socializing with fellow trekkers or passing time reading books and doing other leisurely stuffs. You are normally expected by the tea house owners (a kind of de facto thing) to have breakfast and dinner at the place where you sleep. In some cases, if you don’t dine at your lodge, you may also have to pay twice thrice or maybe ten times the normal price of the room for your stay. So, it’s better to eat where you spend the night …this way you will also save yourself from the hassle of haunting an eating place at the hour when all you need is a peaceful rest. Lunch is a more flexible affair. You have lunch somewhere in the mid-way, in one of the teahouses you come across.
What is available?
A lunch platter of bread, fries, fried chicken, boiled vegetables, fried mushroom, cheese balls and momo
As expected of any remote areas with very limited option of transportation, food menu in Everest region won’t come with extremely wide varieties of options. So, you need to compromise a bit with your palate. However, tea houses have a decent range of continental and local foods. Most of the teahouses have similar menus. In breakfast, you can find items of bread, eggs, porridge, cereals like muesli and corn flakes, pan cake, hash browns, fries, chapatis etc. Lunch and dinner menu is same, in which you find items of some vegetables (limited option), spaghetti, pizza, noodles, sandwich, soup, momo etc. Fruit is rare and you don’t find any seafood in the menu. Nepali staple diet “Daal Bhaat”, which is a platter of boiled rice, curry, lentil soup and pickles is available everywhere. You can also find simple choices of hot beverages that include different types of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot lemon honey etc. In some places, you can also find simple dessert menu that include apple pie, chocolate roll, custard and pudding.
Daal Bhaat, a staple diet of Nepali, is a platter of rice, curry, lentil soup, pickle etc. However, it can have certain modification as in the picture- it has an omelette and no pickle.
What is the price range?
As almost every food item is generally transported from Kathmandu via planes (or from lower valleys) and carried up higher by porters, yaks and zokyos, the prices tend to be much higher than in Kathmandu. With the increase in altitude, the price also increases. In average, you will spend about $8 for a meal including hot beverage. So, for 3 meals a day, it will total about $24. You can also get snacks like chips, energy bars and chocolates. Your expense on snacks depends on how frequent nibbler you are!
Drink Menu at World’s Highest Bakery Cafe at Lobuche (Prices in Nepali Rupees)
Drink Menu at one of the teahouses in Deboche (Prices in Nepali Rupees)
Water
Keeping yourself hydrated is quite important during the trek. Bottled water is available throughout the trail, with price ranging from $1 to $4 per bottle (1 liter). If you are travelling through a travel agency, they will arrange filtered water for you. However, in Gorak Shep (the last stopover of Everest Base Camp Trek), you have to buy bottled water as tap water is not available due to water scarcity. It’s recommended that you carry chlorine pills or sterilizing device just in case you run out of filtered water or bottled water in the middle of your way.
Food Tips during Everest Base Camp Trek:
Happy Eating! Happy Walking!!
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Although we had to deal with some landslides on the route, we felt safe in their presence all the time.
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