3 Day Paleo/Primal Camping Menu

For those who seek the highest quality herbs and perfect pasture meats, camping is a perfect opportunity to strip away distractions (from convenience) and unleash your inner hunter-gather culinary skills.

Two families, eight people, two stocked coolers, three days of delectable feasts and outdoor embrace. It didn’t come without the perseverance of two women working together on a mission of nourishing celebration in Yosemite National Park. However, with just a little forethought, execution of recipes was a breeze.

Here’s our Paleo / Primal 3 Day Menu: 

Day 1: Seafood Ceviché

(In the afternoon) Dice 1 red pepper, 1 cucumber, 1 shallot and a bunch of dill

Add to a mason jar with the juice of 5 limes

Leave at least 1 hour

Sear 5 large wild sustainable scallops and two ahi tuna slabs over an open fire

Combine and serve

Side: Fermented lotus root and ginger carrots, (prepared 24 hours in advance) 

Day 2: Savory Fig Breakfast

Cook 2 slabs bacon (sliced), and plate

Cook 20 Figs *(picked off your backyard tree), cut in two in the bacon fat

Add finely chopped fresh rosemary

Cook about 3-5 minutes each side

Add a dollop of a creamy raw goat cheese to each fig

Combine with bacon

Serve with locally raised pasture free-range eggs, sunny side up

Side: Kale with mushroom, seaweed & garlic (steamed 24 in advance)

Cold brewed coffee (previously prepared) with raw cream

Dinner: Rabbit Stew

In a large pot add 1 chopped zucchini, 4 chopped carrots, 10 chopped heirloom tomatoes, 3 chopped simple sausage (pasture grass-fed) and 2 tablespoons duck fat

Clean your rabbit, removing organs (set aside) and stuff with fresh thyme and submerge in the pot

Cover and cook for a minimum of 2 hours

Meanwhile, sauté your rabbit organs with fresh chopped sage and lime juice, quickly over a high heat and serve immediately

Day 3: Cookout

A selection of rib eyes and shoulders from local pasture grass-fed lamb & beef

Cook over an open campfire

Serve with:

Leftover Kale (from day 1)

Beats and mushrooms (steamed in advance), reheated

(pre-cooked) Fresh butternut squash, reheated with pasture butter, chopped sage* and raw goat feta cheese

Trio of freshly combined pasture butters: fresh chive, sage* and basil

Day 4: Good-bye breakfast

Combine left over vegetables (kale, beats) and left-over meat, (reserve bones to take home… to make broth), chopped, reheat. Serve with eggs

Where I stand on food.

I’ve worked on a farm for an animal rescue. I’ve looked in the eyes of the amazing animals that cheated death and finally found a fair life in sanctuary. I’ve met distinct personalities in cows and chickens. I know the truths of the agriculture mafia that monopolize animal food ”products”. The disgusting laws around husbandry. The truth that “organic” doesn’t ensure humane.

I’ve been a devote vegetarian and a vegan. But simply turning my nose in my choices didn’t solve the problem. Nor could I stand associating with the unfortunate smug fundamentalists that gave vegan/vegetarians such a bad name.

Being vegan or vegetarian does not exempt anyone from the reality of the problem. They’re not free of harming animals. Animals still die to create produce. Ground up baby chics are used in “organic” soil. Rodents, birds and bugs are killed to maintain crops. Mass farming continues to rape landscapes once home to rich eco-systems.

I heard someone once say, “I live by a code of not eating anything that values its life”. They were very proud of this and it grated under my skin like sand paper. Not only were they not exempt from harming animals; I found it obnoxious they didn’t understand a plant does value its life.

I support the integrity of being vegan/vegetarian and appreciate the dedication - but please, don’t try and bullshit the cause.

At the time of grappling with my own food choices, I was doing a lot of traveling, in Europe and Asia. At first refusing dishes prepared and presented to me, in offering of hospitality, due to its content. The dish was made, my choice didn’t solve anything, but instead tore away from social connection. I realized: 

  • Bringing community and social harmony has rippling positive effects, both for me and the people I share the company.
  • Forcing other people to conform around my opinions antagonizes a situation and people, and solves nothing.
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