Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trekking

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trekking provides travelers and adventurers with the most exciting information. Where every trekker is unknown and aware of the great varieties of food available around the close shadow of Mt. Everest in Nepal.

Thousands of trekkers, adventurers, and mountaineers have ventured to the world’s highest Mt. Everest base camp Trek. The flow of visitors has increased over the past decades from the 1960s to the present 21st Century. In the early days, trekkers had to spend overnights in tented camping where all foods had to be carried from Kathmandu.

The mass flow of trekkers and adventurers made this destination one of the top adventure destinations. The number of guest houses and lodges has mushroomed over the past thirty years at designated villages for overnight stops.

Where there were no places for trekkers to stay, temporary settlements were established by the local villagers. Making the best accommodation and food available for trekkers’ comfort, providing a simple local food menu.

Over the years most simple and basic lodges, were replaced by posh guest houses and resorts in major places. Offering travelers the most luxury and comfortable accommodation with a compressive food menu and other best facilities.

However, at present trekkers can find various types of lodges, accommodation, and food, from budget, standard to luxury class.

Vertex Holiday welcomes all wide-world visitors to taste and experience, the local and international cuisines en-route Everest base camp.

Food to refresh trekkers en route to Everest Base Camp:

Trekkers will be surprised to find great food varieties nearly in all lodges from simple to standard lodges. From the start to the end of trekking at Lukla, where all lodge restaurants serve the best nourishing foods.

The trek begins and completes at Lukla town, with only the closest airport of Khumbu to Everest base camp. Trekkers can enjoy the walk from one traditional Sherpa village to another, not missing delightful places for lunch and dinner.

Where all lodges, inns, and guest houses have fancy, cozy restaurants serving a full food menu. The most common food available and most fulfilling is the traditional and famous, popular Nepal Dal Bhat.

Most trekkers and visitors to Nepal must have known or heard of this national meal. All restaurants en route serve Dal Bhat with various seasonal vegetables mild curry and light spices.

Trekkers might have experienced various café, eateries, and international standard restaurants in Kathmandu, as well as around tourist places of Nepal.

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Most tourist areas around Nepal are a paradise for visitors where one can find various types of foods. From continental, and oriental to local foods with a blend of Indian, Chinese, and Tibetan flavors including excellent bakery products.

Trekkers might expect the same standard of food on treks to Everest Base Camp, where visitors will be surprised. Finding a grand long list of food menus in some of the best posh hotels and lodge restaurants. The best food on route Everest base camp is available in Lukla, Phakding, and Namche Bazaar as well as in Tengboche.

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, From Namche Bazaar and Tengboche onwards are just temporary settlements with several good lodges and restaurants. After Tengboche and Pangboche due to the high altitude and harsh cold weather, the food menu is limited.

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek However, trekkers can take delight, whatever is listed on the menu, some lodge restaurants do have bakery items as well. All meals are served hygienically and well-cooked to consume as per one’s choice and options.

Most food menu list includes Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner with snacks, refreshments, and appetizers.

Breakfast:

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Simple and common items in Western breakfast are oats porridge, cornflakes, muesli, or granules, served with cold or hot milk. The breakfast is followed with a main course like toast, pancakes, and eggs of variation likewise; boiled, omelet of variation including scrambled. Includes hot and cold refreshments like juice, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Some luxury hotels and resorts also serve sausages, bacon, hash browns, and crepes with some roasted fresh tomato.

Lunch Menu:

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Most trekkers have heavy breakfast, skip lunch, or just have refreshing stops for cold or hot drinks. Normally trekkers are on the move to care for lunch, however, trekkers can have the option of a quick lunch. To add energy for afternoon walks to designated overnight stops.
The lunch menu normally serves famous Nepali Dal / Bhat with mild vegetable curry and spicy pickles. Usually most trekkers fancy light lunches like plain local bread or chapatti (unleavened dry Indian-style bread). Where one can add jam, butter, or honey, other main lunch courses are fried rice, and fried veg/egg noodles.
Includes noodle soup, Tibetan Bread (deep-fried wheat), fried potato and eggs are also popular items for lunch.

Trekkers prefer light lunch before starting the last hour of afternoon walks to their respective destinations.

Afternoon Tea / Refreshments:

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Once trekkers reach their overnight halts with options of various standard lodges, one can enjoy brief refreshments. Every lodge and resort provides a big dining hall mostly decorated with local Sherpa cultural arts and design.

All dining with central heating systems to keep the room warm and cozy with light music. Dining is the main meeting place for all trekkers to share ideas and make friends with different nationalities.

The Dinner Menu Main Course or La’ Carte’ basis:

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Like in all hotels and lodge restaurants, most places en route to Everest base camp serve similar types of food menus. The dining area is the liveliest place to interact with other travelers as well as local guides.

Dinner normally starts as per the time chosen and is ordered on arrival at respective lodges / Tea Houses.

The dinner includes various flavor types of soups as per one’s choice, followed by bread, popcorn, or papad (light thin snacks). Then follow the meals of your choice either set meals of Nepali Dal Bhat (boiled/steamed rice). The Dal is a lentil bean soup with a spicy flavor that can be brown, yellow, or black lentil.
The Dal Bhat includes mild spicy flavored vegetable/meat curry, the vegetables depend upon the season. The meat variation can be Buff (Buffalo) or Chicken pork and yak meats are quite rare around the Khumbu region.

The Dal Bhat is the most common and basic meal found all over Nepal, an important basic diet of all Nepalese. The other favorite meals include Mo-Mo (meat or vegetable stuffed Dumpling), famous and popular all around towns and cities in Nepal. The second most popular food and snack of all Nepali, Mo-Mo a Tibetan name for Dumpling with a choice of spicy sauce.

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Besides the Nepali main course of Dal Bhat or Mo-Mo, one can enjoy Indian and Chinese cuisines. As well as Continental meals of mashed potato, fried or roasted chicken, and other dishes, like Pizza, Spaghetti, or pasta. The restaurant does provide desserts canned fruits, and custard as well as some bakeries’ products like cakes or pastries.

Enjoying the main dinner course of meals can conclude the night by having a warm cup of hot chocolate or coffee.

Healthy food in Everest base camp trek:

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Every trekker needs to be physically fit, as well as with sound medical background. So that one can enjoy and have delightful moments overlooking views and enjoying the local culture and foods.

The most important is staying healthy and fit throughout the trip, and taking care of oneself. Choosing the right choice of foods, and making sure it is hygienically prepared and served on the table.

Besides healthy food, to stay fit must be aware of high altitude sickness or AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). Taking care and precautions against AMS, trekkers will have an enjoyable time with pleasant scenic walks.

At higher altitudes to be fit, trekkers need to consume much fluid taking plenty of safe water to drink. Besides safe boiled and filtered drinking water, trekkers can take hot soup, light green tea, or other healthy fluids.

Reaching higher elevations like at Namche Bazaar which is above 3,440 m or nearly 12,000 feet high. Trekkers can feel the altitude and thin air, one needs to take things slowly and drink much fluid.

The important thing to know about being healthy and fit on treks to Everest Base Camp is avoiding meat products. Meats are scarce around the Khumbu region, as the Sherpa of Everest interwoven with strong Buddhism, the killing of animals is prohibited.

The Sherpa does not raise livestock except for Yaks and a few cattle to use for farm work. From Namche Bazaar onwards killing is not allowed and that is why once a week Saturday Market is held. Where lower villages of Solu bring the meat products, after butchering before reaching Namche Bazaar.

Food Guide for Everest Base Camp Trek, Trekkers can find meat items on the menu list, but one needs to be careful due to hygiene reasons. Some meats can be very stale, even though the area is cold but not safe to consume meats. The best is to have meat products on the return journey back to Lukla, the other important things to know. Most menus mention Yak Steak, but can be a Buff meat instead of Yak. Buff is common and easily available from the Saturday market, whereas Yak meat is available sometimes. Yak meat is scarce, the Sherpa enjoys Yak meat, only if it accidentally dies from falling off the cliffs. Yak meat is very rare, as the Khumbu Sherpa do not butcher the animals; the only meat available is from the Saturday market.

So when you order a meat product like Yak / Buff Steak make sure it is safe and hygienic. Besides meat products, all food on the trek to Everest Base Camp is safe to consume. However, due to high altitude, some people might lose appetite, which is a slight symptom of AMS. In this case, one can order light food like soup which is much easier to take than solid food. When one is not feeling well in high altitude areas, but going down your appetite will be back again.

The cost of food on route Everest Base Camp Trekking:

The cost of food varies from one lodge restaurant to another, the more you reach higher, the more costly it becomes. Where all food items and fuels are transported by porters, mules, and yaks, from Lukla airport to various higher destinations.

Normally the cost comes on average of US$ 5-10 for breakfast. For lunch depending upon the choice of minimum US$ 5 to maximum US$ 10.
Dinner comes from US$ 8 to US$ 15 as per the food and standard of lodges and restaurants. On average US$ 20 to US$ 25 per person for food each day, where room accommodation is at an extra cost of US$ 10 to US$ 20.

Besides main meals breakfast, lunch, and dinner one will be spending on refreshments like drinking water, and soft drinks. Where beer and hard drinks are quite expensive also, not good while going up. Better to enjoy hard drinks and beer on the way down to Lukla, after completing the trek to Everest base camp.