Cooking in Africa: Dr in the House of HUBB?
 

Anyone gone through Africa without cooking their own food? I'd like to leave my multifuel stove and fuel container at home to save on weight and space in the panniers and buy pre-cooked food as i go along. However,...

...in Africa, am i right in thinking food needs to be heated in order to kill bacteria and avoid high risk of gastro problems?

Thanks advance for your opinions,
Disco

Hey Disco,

A lot depends on your exact route and whether you are seeking to camp or seeling to avoid camping but in general I would strongly urge you to bring a stove and fuel cannister. There are just too many amazing places to camp along the way where making your own food is the most preferred option.

I hadn't considered buying pre-made food to carry, if that is what you mean. The temps are pretty high at times, as you can imagine. If you are completely dedicated to having no stove, it can be done, but I would suggest that this would be for a person who is used to cold camping and eating a can of cold whatever is in your pannier at the time.

And it may seem impossible to imagine, but your cooking is actually better than some of the food you will get on the road:)

Yes. I bought a cooking kit and dumped it in Mauritania having not used it, to save weight/space. The downsides are:
1. You will eat an awful lot of chicken in West Africa.
2. You will spew (or intestinal equivalent) a few times. For me the hotspots in that department were Addis Ababa (only because the cook sneezed over my spag bol) and Accra (nothing to do with food I think - just some weird virus).

None of this was a problem really. Where's the fun if you haven't spent a few nights honking like an angry goose?

:laugh:

I love these kind of metaphors. Can't think of one for the other end though.

and you might be able to light a camp fire. Take some tin foil and cook your food on/in the oren fire.:thumbup1:

Forget the stove.
 

In the Kalahari we ended up leaving the stove behind because we never used it. Wood was a lot drier there than the sodden stuff you find in Britain.
That wasn't to save weight on a bike, we had a Landcruiser.