Wild Cuisine

Description

Former Wild Cuisine editor Mark Banham has chosen his 20 favourite recipes from his popular Wild Cuisine column.

Mark has a passion for good food and doesn’t see why a trip into the backcountry should mean going without a flavoursome meal. Once you read his recipes, you’ll agree.

Says Mark: “Back in the days when I was a young adventurer, just out of university, I was invited on a climbing trip with a couple of hard-core mountaineers. Desperate to impress I packed as lightly as I could, bringing my climbing rope, rack and that’s about it. The food on the trip consisted of instant noodles with a thin tomato sauce at night and energy bars through the day.

“When I arrived at the crag’s campsite around dinner time the smell of barbecuing chipolatas was wafting through the valley and the cabernet sauvignon was flowing – turns out they’d loaded a small grill into the back of their car and were putting on quite the feast. Mercifully they’d brought enough to share.

“I learned a lot about the wilderness from those guys over the course of the trip, but the big lesson for me was: why suffer bad food in the backcountry if you don’t need to? There are plenty of times when a bit of discomfort is a necessity; when you’re days from civilisation or your trip runs a day or two longer than expected.

“But the idea that bad food is a prerequisite of all wilderness travel is a misconception whose used-by-date has long since passed. With a little bit of lateral thinking you can combine grand adventure and great food.”

Recipes included in this A6-sized booklet, include:
Scroggin slice
Unlucky fisherman’s risotto
Serendipitous sushi bowl
Potbelly rice pudding
Wild bacona nd pea risoni
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Lemon Dahl
Backcountry Quesadillas
Blue cod ceviche
French ridge crepes
Coffee a’la sock
Mediterranean quinoa salad
Nasi Goreng takeaway
Long haul laksa
Keep-it-simple salmon
Backcountry butter chicken
Lentil and lamb sausage stew
Vegan curry
Kepler Fried Chicken
Mountaineers’ muesli