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Been enjoying the latest Michael Portaloo series on railways in Canada and this got me interested in reading up about the Metis people, who are of mixed blood - English or French fur-trappers (usually men) and aboriginal or "First Nation" women. More and more Canadians are now identifying themselves as of Metis blood. The arrangement worked well as the Europeans learned survival skills from the locals and the local women did the domestic chores and raised the children while the trapper was out hunting beaver (cough).
The preferred trail food was pemmican, a rich mix of dried buffalo meat with fats and berries, formed into blocks, which provided all the protein and energy needed for a long trip. There are parallels with the Cape Coloured of Southern Africa, the name given by the Apartheid regime to people who are mostly the descendants of Dutch and British colonists and local bush people. South Africa also has its trail foods like rusk, pure dried carbohydrate and biltong, pure dried meat, which were used for energy on long arduous trips into the bush. I bet there are many other parallels in other parts of the world where incomers mixed with natives and created their own foods and cultures.
Which brings me to my question: has anybody ever tried pemmican or tried to make a mixed meat protein/carbohydrate energy bar? I know there are carb bars and protein bars but quite often society stumbles upon the perfect synergistic mix of foods, for example beans on toast or daal and chappatis (pulses and grains) which provide the best benefit for the lowest cost, bulk and weight.
Mrs Gti makes fanatastic flapjack, but I dont think I would dare ask her to add dried beef to the mix!
Sounds as if it would be good for keeping you full, but not for fuelling high intensity cycling.
Well having a mix of protein, fat and carbs is obviously good but that doesn't mean meat is a particularly good source for the protein & fat part, it's just what they had a ready supply of.
Pemmican was the trail food of choice for English Victorian gentlemen explorers.
My late father got issued with pemmican and a few ounces of water daily when on life rafts having been sunk ('discharged at sea') a couple of times on merchant vessels in the battle of the Atlantic. He didn't say what it was like but he survived to tell the tale.
It was one of the primary foods used by Antarctic explorers - see here.
I remember the children in 'Swallows & Amazons' eating corned beef and calling it 'Pemmican' - probably the closest thing to it you can buy off the shelf.
Only thing to do is try it and see how it works for you.
I'd have thought it was a pretty balanced survival food; fat for energy, protein to prevent muscle wastage and berries for vitamins.
This is kind of modern equivalent. Not that many carbs in there though. https://www.fori.co.uk. The taste/texture is, er, “interesting”.
Is dried buffalo meat readily available in the UK?
but not for fuelling high intensity cycling.
Agreed, but very few of us actually do that.
Your body is really very good at turning whatever you shovel into it into fuel. Unless your fuelling needs are particularly extreme (i.e. you're an athlete or an arctic explorer), just eat whatever you like the taste of.
If I've ever been out on the bike all day then I've packed a peanut butter sarnie.
Have been interested in pemmican from a survival/science/historical perspective, however it sounds like a pursuit all of it's own. And, I really do enjoy a peanut butter sarnie on the trail. Followed by onion Space Raiders and a good glug of water. If it's a very long day then I'll pack a banana too. By now we're into weighty stuff, so every chance I'll just stop at a pub 🤣
If I’ve ever been out on the bike all day then I’ve packed a peanut butter sarnie
Or cheese and jam and a chicken drumstick.
If whale blubber is unavailable, it would an excellent choice.