Dining at Burning Man

[trilobyte]

Virgin, consider for a minute that all the posters in this thread aren't fat slobs who travel to inhospitable parts of the world only to spend their time eating. I don't expect you to understand just yet, but you should make sure to cover the basics.

Read the survival guide if you haven't (I thought it covered food). Stuff that sits on your kitchen table for a week or two without going bad or that you're able to take hiking with you just doesn't keep under normal conditions. If you read the 'meat' of these posts, you'll see the common thread here, which is the special steps that people often take in order to enjoy a particular dish out there.

Please don't plan on coming out an trading stuff... The idea is that it's a gift economy, not a barter economy. If you give someone something, it should be without the expectation of getting something in return. And the same is true for those who will offer you a gift of some kind.

Don't make the mistake of traveling with a small cooler for the week. Those things are made to take to the beach for the day, or to a picnic. You're going to be out there for days - maybe even a week. While you can replenish the ice in your cooler at CampArctica, you can't replace food you didn't bring or that went bad because you thought you knew better than all those people who've been there time and again (well, you can, but you have to head back to Reno).

Good luck!

~Trilo~

[Remark]

Most of my fondest memories of burning man involve food.

-The deep fried turkey/Pot luck dinner. Wow.

-The time the wind was blowing so hard, I had to just had to stand at the side of the road, eyes closed holding my bike. A voice comes out of a dome "Get in here, we need you to help us eat all this food....."

-The otter pops out by the trash fence. I overheard some guy say he had to go back to camp to get a band-aid. I happen to have a few extra and he had a few extra otter pops. (70 to 80% frozen!!!)

Don't under estimate food as a gift.

Also not a bad idea to bring an exra side dish-type food for a totally unplanned potluck meal.

Good form to bring your own plate, bowl, fork, spoon, cup,....etc. and AT LEAST clean up after yourself.

[robotland]

Robotland Chicken Ourzo Salad
.......................................................

You'll need a somewhat large pot and heat source, for boiling the pasta and serving. Also some water, a mixing/serving utensil, strainer or "straining method", and the following ingredients:

One large red onion, chopped "medium" (or to preference)
One bottle Thai peanut sauce ("House of Tsang Bangkok Padang" is good.)
One 13 oz. can of chicken breast, drained and "flaked" with fork
One 16 oz. box of Ourzo pasta
One or two firm-fleshed fresh mangoes, chopped medium fine but not TOO small
Peanuts, either crushed or whole (or both!)

Boil water and add Ourzo, cooking until al dente. Drain water into your evap pond, or retain for other cooking. Pour bottle of Thai peanut sauce over pasta while still warm, and blend. Add chicken and peanuts. Put off adding the mango until last, and stir as little as possible to avoid mashing it. If you plan to chill before serving, (IT, not YOU) then add mango BEFORE.
I think this mixture's better cool or cold- Let it cool naturally in the shade, and then stick the pot in your cooler to finish chilling. Serves "between ten and fifty people".
This can be made sans chix, of course, but substitute "something with texture". Try canned pineapple, if mango is a challenge. Mangoes bought pre-playa should be nice and firm, but not rock-hard. They'll last well if kept in the shade, but bruise easily and then go south quickly. Remove excess onionskin while still at the market, to reduce MOOP. Peanuts can be crushed in a heavyduty ziplock bag against a hard surface, but watch that you don't rupture the bag. Wrapping it in a bandanna works.
And it's so tasty, you won't have leftovers to worry about! Just clean the pot quickly, unless you plan to bag it and stick it in the car. NOT advised, though.

[sunn]

ohmygod...I'm now adding the Chicken Ourzo recipe to my BM fare.

By the way, re: the cooler issue, we only brought one last year and ate very simply, worked out okay but by the end of BM I missed cooked food ALOT. Fortunately we had nice neighbors who fed us pasta one night.

This year we have an RV and more in our camp vs. two of us in a tent so our menu will be greatly improved....
Steaks, BBQ chicken
Quesidillas, fajitas
Chili (great on a cold night in BRC)
Gyros (just added that today after going to a Greek Festival...Yum...)
Pasta and above mentioned new recipe from Robotland

Snacks: Trailmix, Chips/Salsa, string cheese, peanut butter/crackers, bing cherries, grapes, tangerines or oranges (fresh from Santa Barbara, should hold up well in the coolers).

Oh, and we're doing a hot dog roast one night and inviting everyone...so come over if you're hungry.
(Camp Erwin)

[raspberrymeeegs]

Well i will be on my lonesome this year ...... so will be bringing dried fruit, tinned fruit, tuna, nuts and mix, crackers...all in ziplockable bags, jerky and basically anything that doesn't need cooking. Taking a cooler for some cold items (fruit drinks), buying coffee at centre camp and be on my merry little way....and Berocca (which are dissolvable vitamin B&C tablets from down here)....like Emergence'Cs.

But knowing my luck i will also get soo excited at all the foreign new stuff in the supermarket up there, that i will have to control myself! I get sidetracked very easily.

[diane o'thirst]

Never heard of Berocca. Sounds good. Think I'll be a-Googlin' that...

[raspberrymeeegs]

as the ad says on TV here...berocca gives you back your b-b-bounce

will be bringing stacks ..... for people lacking bounce in vitamin B&C

[Tiara]

I buy enough Berocca to stockpile it on my infrequent trips to Australia. I find it's particularly effective as a hangover-helper.

I've got a new find for playa food: hummus in a jar (no cooler required until the seal is broken). I found it at BevMo. I'm sure it can be found other places as well.

Also, on the bread issue. I've been able to keep bread for 5-7 days in previous years. Just put it in a doubled plastic bag and keep it in the shade (not a hot tent).

[murrcat]

Last year, I froze gazpacho and tofu/fruit smoothies in individual portions. They were refreshing and yummy.

[diane o'thirst]

I'm bringing a chocolate fountain. It requires melted chocolate so I can have it both ways: chocolate is a rare treat out on the Playa because it can't stand the heat, so you might as well eat it melted anyway and dip some strawberries, cookies, papaya spears, peppermints and marshmallows in it while you're at it

[geekster]

http://www.angryman.ca/monkey.html

It really doesn't take much to survive for a week.

And it would probably be great coated with chocolate.

Oh, and apparently it won't kill you:

http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.7 ... detail.asp

[Badger]

There's a GREAT recipe book put together by Burningbeach. Can't remember (or find) their web site to link to. However, if anyone's interested I can send it as an attachment.

PM me at: precambrian@gmail.com

[phil]

http://www.burningbeach.com/BMrecipes/index.html

[Isotopia]

Cool. Thanks Phil.