This review will be a little long...but could easily have been longer. I hope my experience at Far Horizons Camp over Labor Day week (2021), makes you think. This Camp is growing, has a good variety of speakers on eclectic subjects...and/or it's okay to do nothing but explore--whatever you like...but we all have to eat and this review is all about the camp food. OMG! You have to taste it to believe it! Talk about the joy of eating!
Everyone needs to get away once in a while in order to reconnect with nature, and my get-away retreat has always been to Far Horizons Camp in Sequoia National Forest, Kings Canyon. Every wilderness camp has a camp cook and we all know how skilled they are because we look forward to their next meal--not merely because we are hungry. This year, Far Horizons not only had a skilled cook but a chef-extraordinaire AND a nutritional scientist all rolled into one unique individual. I am a vegetarian hoping to be a full-time vegan but have never tried to find the time, inclination, or a satisfying reason to pay attention to what I am eating or to think about the nutritional effects of sub-standard foods. Who gives food a second thought? Who has the time? But what are the effects of this attitude?
On our very first day of camp, our camp cook, chef-extraordinaire, and nutritional scientist, Adaniel Lepe-Camacho, began our food re-education.
Chef Adaniel didn't just provide us with meals; he created an unparalleled food-experience! In a wilderness camp? Yes! His extraordinary (and, yes, unusual) combinations of fresh vegetables, herbs and spices, and his obvious joy in providing us with the best natural nutrition possible, were outside the norm. For example: who knew how delicious and satisfying his Green Miso Pozole could be? I call it "stuffed" soup! Do you get your miso soup in a box? No, no, no! This was the first of an eye-opening experience.
Every single meal was extraordinary and so-ooo good!
But there's more! Who taught us to honor our food with a brief meditative moment that changed every day at every meal? Adaniel! Who taught us about the healing properties of eating healthy food? Adaniel! Who taught us the importance of honoring the natural world around us as we ate the food it provided? Adaniel! Who invited us to be mindful of one another as fellow human beings--being grateful for what we have? Adaniel!
Want an educational experience while camping? Want to build a personal understanding of the effects food has on our well-being good or bad while camping? I invite you to check out the beautiful Sequoia wilderness surrounding Far Horizons and hopefully Adaniel Lepe-Camacho will be there to inspire, educate, and prepare food that will amaze the most sophisticated palate. I, for one, can hardly wait! read more