Unless you are planning a porter supported trek, you’ll be eating locally along the way, as we did. We supplemented this with food bought in Pokhara and a few things we were able to buy en route.
In a home stay you eat what you are given and you are grateful for it. Especially given that this region is generally rather poor in food resources. It will be simple (if repetitive) but for some breakfast can be a little challenging. It makes sense to supplement your diet with some extras, most especially food for midday meals, snacks and hot drinks which might not be available when and where you need them.
There are a few shops but with a rather limited range of food that you can both carry and consume without cooking. Biscuits and packet noodles being the main items. However there are some healthy options. Things like Powa (beaten rice) and roasted hemp seeds which are both nutritious and delicious. You may need to get the hemp seeds roasted in a house, though my favourite chai shop in Pokhara will also do it for me.
As well as a half a dozen shops we did encounter some places that, somewhat generously, you could call restaurants. You just have to make do with whatever they have, which isn’t much and is rarely very healthy. There will be no menu. On the other hand it is authentic, if fried packet noodles can be so called.
Overall it is a matter of simply forcing in sufficient calories without getting sick and hanging on long enough to get back to the relative luxury of Kathmandu or Pokhara. When all else fails there is boiled rice and sometimes bananas.
- Cashew nuts, Almonds
- Dried fruit (figs, raisins, prunes)
- Biscuits
- Cheese (first few days only)
- Beaten rice (Powa)
- Packet noodles, “Bombay Mix”
- Tea bags, Powdered Milk, Chai Spices and Jagri (raw sugar)
- Fresh ginger (when I could get it)
- Garlic
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