Local diet, food and meals in the Nanga Parbat area

Local diet, available food and meals during trekking in the Nanga Parbat region of northern Pakistans Diamer district

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Research showed, that a local person eats about 0.45kg of grain-products and 0.25kg vegetables each day.This carbohydrates are supplemented with proteins comming from lentils (Dal) and milk-products, and with salt and fat, comming from butter, if available. With this uniform diet, the locals can work very hard and enjoy good health and fitness. When working as a porter the amount is increased making in total roughly about 1kg of food, comming mainly from carbohydrates.

To get sufficent energy, one has to eat a lot of this grain-based diet. That takes practice and determination. If a visitor likes more variety than the local diet provides, he has to bring in additional food from home, or Rawalpindi or Islamabad. Mostly recommended is pure Protein-powder. In the villages you can get, depending of the time of year, easily in fall, vegetables and potatoes. But be aware, that with such additions you may easily end up carrying 1.5kg of food per person-day. Visitors are often surprised that with only this locally available food one can trek for weeks and emerge fit and strong. Certainly: lean, by loosing about 0.5..1.0kg body-weight per week. Allways remember: This local high-bulk diet in big quantities is very sustaining, but, again, you must eat enough of it, as locals do. It can be difficult for you.

When you buy food in the villages or valleys make sure, that you buy small amounts of food from several families. To give many persons a chance to an additional income.
The cooking-equipment that one uses is allways low-tech and is based mainly on simple things. One should use petrol wherever possible, and the local stoves for cooking, although they are heavy. But the local persons know how to operate and repair them, and have the equipment for doing that.

A typical visitors-breakfast consists of plain porridge or cornflakes, prepared with boild milk and sugar. Thats a light meal with mainly carbon-hydrates which is working well during walking. Beside this porridge, the local chapattis with jam or honey are recommended.
This Chapatis are made from local flour comming from maize-or wheat-grain, which is milled in every village by force of water-power.

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After mixture with water and salt, it is roasted an a plain plate of iron which is put directly over a stove or open fire (where wood is available).

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Lunch is typically made of some bisquits with the addition of cheese and/or corned beef, and a lot of fruit-juice prepared from juice-powder.

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Dinner is the biggest meal of the day, because it take time and after trekking, the stomaches are empty. It starts to please the visitor and keep him busy during waiting for the main-course with some soup. Followed by rice or noodles, with lentils or beans, or local vegetables. Beside this one uses cheese and/or corned beef or tuna-fish as source of proteins and fat. After the main meal something like custard or fruits is mostly liked. Followed at the end with hot chocolate, or tea, if you like.

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If you have choosen your cook thouroughly and are lucky, to have an experienced cook with you, like famous Kashkar from village Diamoroi, you will be surprised to realize that out of nothing with ingenieous improvisation familiar favorites like pizza, cake or corn-bread are created, with a big smile, that one knows how to please visitors hidden desire.

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Because the meals have a big lack of protein it is a good advice to keep some sort of personal protein-powder with you to use it for the breakfast. In addition to energy-mineral-powder to be put in your personal water-bottle.

In total, with the limitations of 1.0kg load-weight per person-day, the food-mixture is not so nutrious and well-balanced, so you will usually loose weight of 0.5-1.0kg per week.

One kg of body-weight is roughly equal to 6,000kcal or nearly 2days trekking-energy.

For informations about what to buy for your meals look at our SHOPPING-LIST.