Now the Good Stuff - Foodstuff

All treks on the route of Adi Kailash and Om Parbat have to go through the KMVN. The various camps that we stayed at provided decent meals. The basic 3 meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner - were more than adequate. We never had to cook anything. So there was no need to carry any cooking utensils, gas stoves, etc.
However, the basic three meals are not enough all the time. Sometimes, you get hungry while walking. Or you are just plain tired and need an energy boost. The whole group divided up the dry snacks and each one brought the items assigned to him/her in a large quantity to share with everyone. On a long, strenuous trek that tests the limits of your endurance, 'sharing' is a very important word.

Between the 11 of us, we carried the following foodstuff.
1. Riceflakes Chivda
2. Peanut and jaggery laddoos
3. Peanut Chikki
4. Dryfruit laddoos
5. Shankarpali (a Maharashtrian sweet made out of wheat flour, ghee and sugar)
6. Amla Candy
7. Flavoured sugar candy
8. Gulpoli (Sweet Parathas stuffed with a mixture of jaggery, peanut and sesame powder flavoured with nutmeg. another Maharashtrian speciality. Yummy! but more importantly, high calorie.)

Each one also brought their own stock of dry fruits to munch on. The climate in the himalayas is such that you need a lot of energy to stay warm and to keep walking constantly. The best combination is a mixture of cashews, dried figs and walnuts. Keeps you pepped up throughout the day. Candied sweets keep the throat from getting parched and conserve the limited water you can carry throughout the day.