Overall Asian Trekking provided us with more healthier food on Everest than IMG. I must admit that I had very low expectations of the food from Asian Trekking, because I thought that this would be one area where a Western company might make a big difference.  However we definitely received better food from Asian Trekking than IMG. For instance, I think we only had chicken once with IMG, whereas AT supplied us with chicken once or twice a week.

At Camp 2 the difference was particularly noticeable, with last year the food being very poor. It should be noted that it is difficult to provide good food at this high camp for any company, but with IMG, one day for dinner last year we had plain rice with a strip of bacon on the top and nothing else at all. Another time it was plain rice with some tinned sardines. 

This year we had much better food at C2 and a couple of times we even had chicken. We had less sickness this year, although whether that is due to food, fewer people on the expedition, or some other factor, I can’t say. This year no one got any stomach bugs at base camp (or above), and only one person got the Khumbu cough. I didn’t get sick at all throughout the duration of this expedition, whereas I was sick on several occasions in 2006. Maybe I was used to it, but it doesn’t account for the other people on the team who didn’t get sick, but were first timers to Nepal. AT served us fresh apples, bananas or oranges nearly every single lunch. Muesli was available for breakfast, instead of fruit loops and other sugary hi GI cereals provided by IMG.

The range of food was otherwise roughly similar between both trips (pizza, salads, pancakes, buff steak, chips, sandwiches) however the fresh fruit, healthier breakfast cereals and more protein made me consider the food to be much better this year.