Meat / Vegetarianism on the trail

imported
#1

this weekend i thought i’d try and ween myself back onto some meat.

since it seems meat is rife along the trail with the AYCEs and other food type places, i figure it might be hard to shovel the required calories into me bod remaining vegetarian.

i’m not a veg by choice, it just happend, that when I landed in london it was the height of foot n mouth disease and mad cow disease… so it was safer to just not eat meat :slight_smile: and well i just never started again.
so i wont be breaking any of me beliefs… afterall i love a nice steak i just havnt had one in years…

my problem is i cant stand the smell of meat anymore… and a friend of mine who was in the same situation (came to london at same time) said when she started back on meat she got real sick…

i’m in two minds of it… on one hand i dont miss it, on the other i think it would make keeping fueld up on the trail that much easier…

any vegetarians made it all the way? difficult? everyone posts in journals about burgers and so-forth, sounds like a meat lovers paradise along the trail…

im sure its easier toting a bit of old salami than cans of presoacked blackeyed beans, chickpeas and gunga peas… etc…

-Bloody Cactus

Bloody Cactus

#2

I know at least three vegetarian AT veterans who are hiking the PCT this year – Puck, Belcher and Tea Tree. I’m sure there are LOTS more. Might require a little extra planning, but shouldn’t be a problem to get all the calories you need eating vegetarian food. I’d stay away from the (heavy) cans though . . .

JMT Hiker

#3

but my wife may disagree. hehe. We hike with a lot folks that wanted to vigify it on thier hike and did “okay”. Protien being the big craving even a few of those guys had a burger now and then. A few of us used TVP in meals. We had pepperoni log every week to add some zip and fat and salt and fat. That’s mostly what I craved. One of those double packs of five inch links, they were so expensive though. Some were $7! Try some fish jerky or canned chicken if you need a fix but don’t want do deviate from the veggie routine much. We won’t knock you for you. Veggie meals also tend to be easier on the stomach too. Like a black bean and rice pot with some bell pepper and onion, maybe a dash of hot sauce and some curry. Nummy nummy.

Bushwhack

#4

I wasn’t a vegetarian when I did the AT, but I am now and I knew lots of hikers who did the trail as such. It’s really not hard at all to be a vegetarian on the trail. I would recomend putting either TVP (textued vegetable protein) or soy protein powder in your meals to make sure you’re getting enough protein. Adding dehydrated veggies to rice/pasta dishes is one of my favorites. No reason to start back on meat just for the trail. Since it’s been so long since you’ve eaten meat, you’ll probably have some digestion problems for the first few weeks…do it at home before you get on the trail.

-Howie

Hungry Howie

#5

I’m a practising vegetarian. However being from overseas it was hard for me to have food mailed to me. I found after a week on the trail and having little protein in my meals my muscle strength diminished rapidly. So I decided to bend my principles and started eating Tuna each day.

I didn’t particularly like it but it solved my strength problem as Tuna is high in protein. The Tuna in the plastic pouches is available all along the AT and is lighter to carry than Tuna in the cans.

Downunda

#6

My wife was a vegiterian for three years before hiking the AT. In Gatlinburg she shocked me and our friends when she order a big roast beef at hardee’s and ate the whole sandwich before I finished my fries. She just kept eatting meat then with no looking back. We thought she would be sick since it was her first meat in three years but she had no problems. She had been talking about hamburger and roast beef sandwiches for a week or two before the smokies.

You can go vegiterian but you need mail drops for speciality items such as TVP and other protien sources.

Darth Pacman

#7

It really isn’t difficult to be a vegetarian while you are on the trail - lots of nuts, TVP, dehydrated beans, etc. will get you the protein you need. While we are actually on the trail, we rarely eat meat – it does bad things for our digestion, which is happier with our usual bland hi carb diet. The biggest problem seems to be in towns - when everyone else is having a big fat juicy hamburger or pepperoni pizza and you are eating a veggie burger – it just isn’t the same. The main issue is fats, which you will crave, but if you carry olive oil to add to your pasta, eat lots of peanut butter and cashew butter, etc. and eat ice cream or cheese pizza in town (that’s where it’s hard for vegans) you will get what you need. I have known vegetarians (and vegans) who stopped being vegetarian while doing a thruhike, and others who had no problem keeping to their dietary choice.

Spirit Walker

#8

Ive been a vegitarian since 97… and i hiked the trail last year and ate as a vegitarian. It was not a big deal… no worries.

Werewolf

Werewolf

#9

i’m currently hiking on a vegetarian diet (picked the bacon out of my salad this morning) and am having no problems at all getting enough calories or protein. neither has the hiker beside me who is also mostly vegetarian. nuts, peanut butter, dehydrated beans are all good sources of protein.

hephzibah