All water and vegetables used in preparing your meals are sterilised with iodine, and 100% safe to drink and eat. If you have any specific requests, do ask us before we leave for the trip, or even on the way, and we will do our best to meet your requirements. In any case, the amount of spice and oil in your meal is easily controlled to suit your taste. Note that on teahouse or lodge treks organised by us, the only organised meal is breakfast. Lunch and dinner is your choice and responsibility. Regardless of what kind of trek you are doing, do take along your own personal supply of dry food such as chocolates, dry fruits and nuts, trail mix, biscuits etc. This way you never have to go hungry, and the occasional bit of chocolate or handful of almonds can make all the difference when you're tired or when you've simply lost your appetite for food.

Notes about mealtime

We request you to please not be concerned, offended, or uncomfortable if you find at mealtime that none of the staff are eating with you. In Nepali culture it is perfectly acceptable to take your meal separately or with your own smaller group. One of the reasons this happens a lot on treks is that the food cooked for you is simply not what the staff are used to - they prefer their food with a lot more chilli and sometimes different spices. Another reason is to give downtime to both sides, a chance to let loose and speak your own language, or simply not feel obliged to make conversation.

For breakfast the porters eat dry beaten rice, locally called chiura, with tea. At lunch they have a large meal with rice, dal (lentil soup), and vegetables. You might be amused at how much they eat, and at how much chilli they consume - for a one week trek with six-eight staff, the kitchen typically carries an entire kilo of green chilli. Dinner is more of the same, or a hearty noodle soup called thukpa.

Part of the experience we help you have is that of real camping. We do not, therefore, insist that our porters carry around heavy tables and chairs unless clients specifically ask for them. Rather, we find that passengers who travel with us are happy to eat in a manner more suited to traditional camping and closer to Nepali habits: at mealtimes the kitchen staff will lay out a mattress covered with a clean cotton 'tablecloth'. You will have your candlelight together sitting around the mattress.