Let us now discuss two of this life鈥檚 greatest pleasures: eating and birds.
I鈥檓 not talking about bird recipes, or , or coming home after a day of birding to cook a nice meal (though that sounds wonderful): I鈥檓 talking about eating on the road while looking for birds.
After your binoculars and a ride, food is the most important consideration when you鈥檙e headed out. What will you need? Where will you get it? How delicious will it be? All important questions. A slow day鈥檚 birding can be saved by a good meal, and a good day鈥檚 birding can be hampered by an empty stomach. So it鈥檚 important to think of these things ahead of time. Let鈥檚 get into it.
First off, you鈥檝e got options. Lots of birders like to bring their own food with them from home. It鈥檚 the cheapest way to go, and it gives you the most control over the menu. You can make your own sandwich just the way you like it (cut mine into triangles, not rectangles, thank you very much). You can make sure you鈥檝e got exactly as many brownies as you want. You can bring that weird healthy smoothie you like with the chunks of stuff and the whey powder. Enjoy that.
Of course, food brought from home can really be broken up into two subgroups: homemade food and packaged food. I don't do either. I don鈥檛 like to bring any packaged food with me, even granola bars. Apologies in advance if I singe your eyebrows when you read this hot take, but granola bars are gross. They all taste like bark. Instead of snacking, I prefer to just stuff myself with food and carry a fully belly over to the next meal, like a camel storing water for a long trek.
I also never make my own food because I'm terrible in the kichen and don鈥檛 like knowing that I have something gross waiting for me in the car. Plenty of other birders make their own meals, though. I asked my Twitter followers about eating while birding, and some of them shared their homemade delights.
homemade jerky, homemade "GORP" (self-assembled mix of dried fruit, chocolate-covered nuts, etc from natural foods store)
鈥 Hipster Birders (@hipsterbirders)
Homemade jerky! Sounds awesome, and sorta intimidating.
Our Outreach Director likes to make pimiento cheese the night before... but some Alabama gas stations are good for barbecue!
鈥 Birmingham 爆料公社 (@Bham爆料公社)
Oh man, my mouth is watering thinking about homemade pimiento cheese.
PB&J. Won't go bad too quickly on a hot day and isn't too bad if slightly frozen. Birding day-trip go-to packing food.
鈥 Denise Ryan (@B1RDERGIRL)
Lots of people are good at making PB&Js, apparently. I鈥檓 not.
last week on a river birding trip we had salad
鈥 Chris Chapa (@tacochapa)
I am going to go out on a limb and say that this is the first person to eat salad in a canoe. Canoe salad! Good for you, pal.
homemade pork bao (carb! meat! sweet sticky sauce!) with oolong tea in a thermos. I'm fancy that way.
鈥 Eileen Webb (@webmeadow)
I don鈥檛 even know what this is.
Moving on. Not bringing anything with you means you鈥檝e got to get food on the road. Now we鈥檙e in my wheelhouse.
I want to start with the controversial stuff: fast food. I almost never eat fast food when I鈥檓 not birding, but I eat it more than I鈥檇 like to admit when I am. Breakfast, mostly. Fast food places are sometimes the only convenient places open early in the morning when you鈥檙e hungry and oh my goodness do you need some coffee. Other times they鈥檙e just the only restaurants around, and you don鈥檛 want to scan through a million Yelp reviews.
Plus, I can鈥檛 lie: Fast food can be delicious. I am a devotee of McDonald鈥檚 coffee and breakfast burritos, and I will slather the latter with that not-actually-hot hot sauce. In Maine, Dunkin' Donuts was the morning rule, especially when my friend Doug had a gift card from his parents that they accidentally loaded up a lot more money on than they realized. We ate like kings. (Please do not send this column to Doug鈥檚 parents.)
Everyone has a favorite spot. Some are regional, like these two apparently beloved chains that I鈥檝e never heard of:
I stop at Bojangle's for biscuits every early morning on a birding trip. I usually don't see anything if I don't.
鈥 lucas (@BirderBobay)
Runza, the birder's manna.
鈥 Rick Wright (@birdernewjersey)
If there's one thing you take from this column today, it's this: There鈥檚 no shame in the occasional birding fast food, so don鈥檛 sweat it.
Also controversial is gas station food. Some people would rather go hungry than eat food from a gas station, but I take a different view: that gas stations are the last bastion of truly regional cuisine. The no-frills food in gas stations around the country is some of the last honest food in America鈥攗npretentious, free from marketing hype, and catered to locals. It鈥檚 rarely good for you, but it's always interesting. In Maine, I love digging out of their metal crate and tossing them into a steamed bun. In Mississippi, it was sausage biscuits. In Louisiana, I had gas station jambalaya that, no joke, was better than anything I ever bought at a restaurant. In Texas, the fresh-made tortillas at the Laredo Taco Companies in the Lower Rio Grande Valley gas stations were so good that we ate there multiple times per day. I鈥檓 no culinary anthropologist, but if you want to experience a region鈥檚 true food, buy it from a gas station.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the fancy gas stations鈥攖he places that have risen in stature to become considered nearly gourmet. Here on the East Coast, people treat Sheetz and Wawa like they鈥檝e got Michelin stars. More Twitter birders than I expected frequent both.
Here鈥檚 two:
almonds & m&ms for hike. Sheetz/WaWa/etc for fast body fuel during day chases. Local diners on trips. Anywhere w pie for lifers!
鈥 Birder K (@Birder_Katie)
cookies. from the wawa close to the forsythe refuge.
鈥 chris cote (@ccotenj)
Apparently WaWa has good cookies, too.
all the finest gas station junk food. In Illinois, the pizza at the Casey's gas stations. When feeling fancy, Subway
鈥 Nicholas Sly (@NickSlyBirdGuy)
Subway is also great if you're on the go. Not sure about Casey鈥檚 gas station pizza, but I'd give it a try!
7-11 has awesome food. Really. Salads. Sub sammies. Corn nuts. Smart Pop cheese popcorn.
鈥 Elly Weber (@ellyabillion)
Okay, I love gas stations, but even I鈥檓 not ready to say that 7-11 has 鈥渁wesome food.鈥
It can depend on how intense the day is. i.e. if I'm on a hardcore 16-hr day trip to DE, I might load up on horseshoe crab eggs
鈥 Art D. (@ADrauglis)
Stay away from this guy.
Most delicious of all, though, are local restaurants. I'm constantly searching out good Mexican lunch spots; it鈥檚 a byproduct of growing up in a state with nothing to offer but a single Taco Bell in the Maine Mall food court. I鈥檒l try any Mexican food place I can find on the road鈥攖he more hole-in-the-wall the better. It鈥檚 cheap, it鈥檚 delicious, and it tastes nothing like Taco Bell.
Stopping at local restaurants can help with your birding, too. On one trip, my friend Jake and I stopped for lunch at the famous Portal Cafe in Portal, Arizona, and happened to be seated next to two birding guides. Jake and I did our best to pretend we were talking to each other while we were actually eavesdropping on the pros, trying to hear what good birds were around. We all ended up in conversation, and they gave us some excellent tips on where a Mountain Pygmy-Owl had been hanging out! Score.
Plus, of course, there鈥檚 this:
always stop at local diners, wear your binoculars. Make sure they know birding is good for business. (esp. in logging towns!)
鈥 Lauren B (@laurenbraden)
Good point! Letting the owners know you鈥檙e a birder will help spread the word that birding means business. Just make sure not to let your binoculars dangle into your soup.
Birds are never guaranteed to be where they鈥檙e supposed to be. But if you plan ahead and are flexible with your choices, you can at least make sure that you'll have a good meal on the road. And on one final note, I know my highly scientific Twitter survey missed plenty of people and ideas, so if you've got more food recommendations or favorite recipes, please share them below!