In a disturbing advertisement, a boutique mountain guide service based in Seattle, Washington for expeditions to K-2 states the following: “Unfortunately the food available in Pakistan is not the best for foreigners, so we have developed a meal plan that encompasses the entire trek and climb. Most of this food is brought from the USA, and we have a Nepalese cook who we have worked with for many years who (with his staff) meticulously prepares each meal for our team. On the mountain our guides and Sherpas help prepare the meals. We find that climbers perform much better, and are often in better spirits, when the food is appetizing and nutritious”. Our expedition cooks unfortunately took a real beating in this rather demoralising advertisement. However there have been plenty of stories circulating out there for years (true or not) of more “ghee than daal”, tough chicken, ladles of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and improper washing of vegetables by local expedition cooks.
The fact is that when focused on a trek or climb, we sometimes might not have the presence of mind or the time to actually contemplate the day-to-day realities of the staff there to support us. Often, too absorbed with our goal, we only see them when they affect our sense of comfort with a burnt paratha or under-cooked egg. But one needs to acknowledge that out of all the categories of high-altitude staff, cooks and assistant cooks by far have it the worst in many senses. Getting up before everyone in the freezing cold, they will light a gas cylinder which can take up to ten minutes by operating what curiously looks like a bicycle pump. On this rudimentary and very dangerous looking device they will, as the first client wakes up and begins to stretch, have a pot of tea going and then depending on the group’s needs make anything from local bread to oat meal using the barest minimum of utensils. Sometimes your hands are freezing when you get up in a tent and even brushing teeth seems like an issue, but your camp cook will be singing a Balti (or sometimes a cheeky Indian) song while cutting tomatoes, onions and chili for a classic Pakistani omelet. He will also often be required to pack any on-the-go lunches in case it is a long walk that day. After the assistant cook is done with his difficult duty of cleaning all the dishes in freezing water, the kitchen team will then load all this equipment on their backs and literally make a break for it. They must get to the end well ahead of everyone to make sure the kitchen tents and other logistics are in working order by the time the team starts wandering into camp.
They must get to the end well ahead of everyone to make sure the kitchen tents and other logistics are in working order by the time the team starts wandering into camp
On one expedition to the Concordia area our cook used a bright rainbow-coloured umbrella for the sun while walking. I tried scuttling next to him once to see how his speed was possible – only to observe the bright coloured umbrella steadily disappear up the rocky moraine in minutes. No wonder when you get to camp, the kitchen tent will already have dinner cooking and steaming cups of tea or soup readily on offer. Nothing beats that feeling of staggering into camp and immediately getting some hot soup – Heaven. Our regular cook for the past three summers then says his prayers (he says he promised his wife never to miss one on a trek) and settles in for a quick nap. When dinner is done, more cleaning up is left to the kitchen team and people begin to retire for the night according to what their specific duties are. At this point however, the kitchen teams may have it better than most (discounting, of course, the prolonged exposure to fumes) as one of the warmest and most comfortable places to lay your head down is the kitchen tent. Most of the porters, by contrast, build small shelters from stone and cover it with tarpaulin. It’s not as bleak as it sounds, though. Songs and laughter curiously permeate the night long after all lights go out.
Expedition cooks and assistants also don’t fare very well on the economic scale. A survey of 21 expedition cooks and 7 assistant cooks carried out by High Altitude Sustainability Pakistan (HASP) and Khurpa Care Pakistan (KCP) found the cooks earning an average of PKR 59,762 and the assistant cooks earning PKR 32,500 a year from expeditions. If their reputation is gradually improved more foreign teams will opt for local cooks, increasing this very basic income.
Kitchen tent on a K-2 expedition - Credits - stuarterskine.com
As it stands though, more and more international teams are bringing their own cooks and sometimes even assistants for their trips. Indeed, nutrition is of utmost importance and I, too, have had many an experience of not being able to eat enough wholesome and healthy food to be able to perform adequately (and was also consequently a cranky mess). Formal vocational training is one of the only things that will bridge the gap. After asking around about solutions, I was provided one by Sarwat Majeed, Resident Manager at Serena Shigar Fort, who offered to train one of our cooks as a pilot project. The first training for “High Altitude Cook training in Health and Hygiene” in collaboration with the Serena Shigar Fort was completed in October 2015. The training was provided free of charge to the cook involved (Fida Ali, who takes care of us on the “Sustain Baltoro” clean-up expeditions). He was professionally supervised throughout by our wonderful partner in this initiative and his trainer chef Ali Mohammad. However, as with all things development related, this endeavour was a complicated affair. Even though Fida completed the course successfully, we were unable to train more people. Through the course of the training it was made obvious that the timings would not work out. The better establishments able to equip our cooks with the level of cooking and hygiene training are typically closed for the winter seasons. The nominated cooks from tour operators and independent guides were unavailable for the one-month intensive course during the summer when they earn most of their wages (it took a fair level of convincing the initial participant of the future value of the course compared to missed wages). Subsidising lost wages or on-the-job formal training seems to be the only solution due to this hurdle.
However, locating a formally trained chief who voluntarily wants to wander around in the rocky wildness for weeks lighting a busted cylinder while teaching has not been an easy task so far (volunteers are always welcome!).
