What I ate trekking to the 3 High Passes & Everest Base Camp (Gluten Free)

In October, 2024 I set off to Nepal for one of the world's most stunning (in my opinion) and certainly most popular treks: 20+ days exploring the Everest / Khumbu Region and all gluten free (because Celiac life).

Now in many ways, Nepal is about perfect for GF, at least on paper. Many dishes are naturally Gluten Free, especially Dal Bhat, the staple of any trekker/climber’s diet, much less the locals. But in a place where meat is generally out and cheap, light, shelf-stable food is quite logically in, it’s no surprise that gluten has most certainly made its mark as a regular food. But I am here to tell you that if EBC is on your list, it is completely doable, or at least the food part is, the rest is up to you!

My go to meal: Dal Bhat, Dal Bhat and more Dal Bhat

Dal (lentil curry/soup) + Bhat (rice) + probably some veggies/potatoes

There is a saying on the trek: “Dal power, 24 hour…”. It goes on from there but I will leave the rest to you to learn when you trek (or chuckle at if you’ve been already) and honestly, you could do the trek just on Dal with minimal gluten risk. Post over.

But even on a shorter EBC trek, Dal for every meal, every day is going to get dull for our spoiled palates. Don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely delicious and every single Tea Hut I went to made it a bit differently so while it was similar, it was never the same. So while I probably averaged Dal twice a day, and certainly did not complain about the unlimited refills it came with, it was not all I ate.

Beyond the obvious, even if slight, CC risks, Dal can be served with crackers/bread so clarify to be sure you don’t get that (I had a guide and as they take food orders… a strange concept but helpful here, he ensured this was never an issue).

Yes, there were days where I was really ready for something else but Dal hits and it sticks with you. It’s been over a year since my trek and I still go looking for it every time I see a Nepalese restaurant around.

What else I ate: Potatoes and eggs or eggs and potatoes

Tea Houses generally have printed menus so it always felt like a tease to flip past the noodles or pancakes or even toast but Dal was most certainly not the only option. For breakfast, I sometimes had Dal but often would go with a simple omelet or even hard boiled eggs to keep things light, especially on our longer days with early starts. If I was changing things up for lunch or dinner, it was to some combination of eggs, potatoes and vegetables. Anything to pack in some much needed protein.

While you may just think of snow capped peaks when you think of Nepal (much less trekking to Everest), the land leading up to the mountain bases is incredibly lush and fertile and many villages had large farms, complete with chickens running around so fresh produce and eggs are basically a staple. This made the meals honestly delicious and went so far to helping offset the repetition.

A few weeks without meat wasn’t an issue but for someone who probably eats 140-160g of protein a day, potatoes/lentils/eggs alone was a big shift. But what I really missed was basic carbs. I did spot buckwheat pancakes once though I didn’t explore it further and when I make it back, I will absolutely chase those down as 100% buckwheat would be 100% on my plate.

What I snacked on

Though I had few issues with the altitude, it did suppress my appetite as we climbed higher and higher and between that and the lower calorie, veggie heavy options I struggled to get enough calories in most days. To help and to satisfy cravings, I mixed in some snacks and still, I lost a fair bit of weight.

From home, I had brought enough Jelly Belly sports beans (quick sugar, tasty, very shelf-stable), a couple Justin’s peanut butter packets, and some GFCO oatmeal packets (I have since given up oats entirely but did fine with them there), and gatorade zero packets. But I did not bring enough and should have had a handful of PB packets and bars, maybe a couple safe noodle packets or even protein powder. Just a bit.

So on top of what I had packed up, I bought a Snickers bar (or two) every day. It was such a consistent part of my routine that, I made a price index of how much more they cost as we got higher (porters carry literally everything in and so this is obviously to be expected). While not GF labeled, I was careful to check labels, sticking to ones that had no wheat/gluten warnings of any sort as things can be imported from different places.

In Namche, the biggest town you pass through on the trek, I also found Reeses (though those like 5x the price) and some GF marked chips which I devoured. And in Lukla, the city with the tiny airport that you fly into, I found Baskin and Robbins which I gambled on (again, no issues) though I skipped any of the restaurants, sticking with Dal till I made it back to Kathmandu and quite literally feasted. But more on that to come.

Some final tips:

Tea is the other staple of the trek and I drank it readily and without issues both as a good way to augment boring old water and stay hydrated for altitude adjustment/all the effort and to stave off the Khumbu cough that is notorious.

While you can buy basically any commonly needed med in Kathmandu or Namche, I also made sure to pack in a healthy supply of personal meds to deal with anything that came up, especially GI issues, as well as to ensure that what I had was GF. I feel like the risk of gluten in generic meds is low but obviously best to make it zero.

Also not a gluten thing but as we tend to have fragile stomachs, be diligent about treating water and good about only buying bottles when you must. I used a rechargeable steripen most of the time and aquatabs a few times when that wasn’t playing nice.

Finally, and as I said before, bring some snacks. Obviously not 10lbs of them but enough to supplement in here and there. And by bring, I mean from home. There is some GF stuff in Kathmandu but not a ton and having your trusted favs helps. I even had 2 backpacking meals with me as emergency backups. Never had to use those but you never know!

How I did regarding gluten: As we all know, there’s no great test and symptoms can be an imperfect science but I can say that I made it the entire trek with no obvious issues, except for one day in Namche after I had some fries. Those were done fresh for me, in a pan with new oil, so I think it was less gluten and more throwing a bunch of fat in suddenly, whoops!

What an amazing experience. 12/10 with an asterisk for getting bored of the same (great) food.