Food Fantasies

It’s incredible how important food is on expeditions, especially trips with physical activity as its main component. In fact, food can easily alter moods, bringing you up when you’re finally able to find some ice cream, or bringing you down when you’re unable to fulfill your craving for (fill in blank here). Truly, we eat fabulously, with our amazing chef Jon turning out amazing dishes, especially considering the resources and facilities available and having to cook for 90 people who eat like 180. Still, there are always certain treats or certain foods that people fantasize over; there’s been many a conversation I’ve overheard with people speaking of the last magical meal consumed or ultimate dessert to lust over.

One of the things that can alter how you feel about a cycling day is the amount of Coke stops along the way. Sometimes, it’s utterly necessary to have an excuse to stop, to take a break and rest and drink something cool and sugary. Many people claim to not even like Coke at home, but when you’re in the middle of the desert in Sudan, and the heat is bearing down on you, and you just need something besides fermenting fast fuel (our Gatorade substitute) to keep you going, Coke does the trick. Sometimes you even find a fabulous spot with chocolates or chipatis or chips to keep you going.

Here’s what people had to say in response to the questions of: “What’s been your favorite Coke stop?” and “What’s been your food fantasy?”

Kerri—Ethiopia. At a hotel, everyone converged, and I had the best macchiato; I had 3. It was frickin’ amazing. We were on the patio and got to sit outside.

Mom’s roast beef meal, with mashed potatoes and apple pie.

Mark—our very 1st Coke stop, in Sudan, because it was very unexpected, cold, and cheap. We were in the desert, there was nothing else for 100k’s and suddenly a Coke stop appeared.

Roast chicken, the way mother cooks it.

Rick—in northern Tanzania. The host/owner of the little facility, she was very outgoing, not shy to be even photographed with westerners. She actually came out and put her arm around us. It was good fun; she was gregarious and very open.

Homemade pancakes, with real maple syrup, French toast, crepes. I love breakfast.

Clive—that night when we didn’t get back in time to put me tent up. It was spontaneous, we met local people and we danced. I don’t know how many beers; an unknown quantity of beer was drunk. Staff and the rest of our group turned up and we were still there and it continued from the afternoon into the night.

Chocolate, really, Bounty. Tempo—the local choc from South Africa. Truly, I really miss a good pint of British real ale. I’ve been very satisfied, I’ve been eating well, more than at home.

Josh—in Sudan, when riding in the middle of nowhere, around a roundabout with a pillar in the middle, on the left hand side, where there were falafels. He had hard boiled eggs, ran his thumb into the pita, and stuffed the hard-boiled eggs in with his sanitary thumb.

KFC—a bucket. I had a dream that Goose (Alec) got a bucket of KFC and he brought it back to camp, but just the bucket, not the KFC.

Joya—where I got the camel ride. Not really for the Coke, it was for the ride.