[pct-l] All about food

[bmclaughlin at bigplanet.com (Brian McLaughlin)]

Marshall Karon wrote:
> 
> I really question the premise that non-cooked foods contain more water.

That is not exactly what I said. What I said was:

> Also, non-cooked foods _tend to_ contain more water...

I stand by this observation. Of the foods that require no cooking
to be edible, the great majority contain more water than properly
dehydrated foods (which **tend to** contain less than 5% residual
water weight). Non-cook foods certainly **tend to** contain more
than this. Some don't, but not very many. The ones that do are
(not surprisingly) dehydrated non-cook foods like powdered milk.

> I believe the individual I knew who did not cook on the trail ate a lot of
> nuts, powdered power meal types of foods, powdered electrolytes, etc. 

I dunno, but that seems like a pretty severely limited list of choices.
In addition, any hiker who resupplies exclusively from stores and hiker 
boxes may find the selection and availability of "nuts, powdered power 
meal types of foods, powdered electrolytes, etc."  to be disappointing,
and 
subsequently may find himself even more limited in his choices than your 
friend was. Or else, he may find himself buying and eating food that,
um, contains more water in it, as I suggested might happen. But I
suppose I could be wrong. ;-)

As for the experience of your particular hiker friend, I am sure he was 
content with his decision. But I am equally sure that few of us who
might 
contemplate such a diet, however seductive it seems at first glance, 
would be happy in eating it for 4-5 months, for the reason I already
cited: 
the monotonously monotonous monotony of it. Not to mention the tedium.

In the end, the lad will, of course, hike his own hike. I wish him
well.