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What's up with all the canister gas stoves?
This past weekend, I went canoe/kayak camping with a group of twelve nice fellows. Three of them were old camping friends. The other fellows were new to me.
It was a neat experience because my three "old" friends and I are 50+ years old and have been back-country camping together for 25+ years. The other fellows were in their early thirties or maybe late twenties and were mostly new to us with the exception that a couple of them were the sons of friends.
The most distinct differences was the cooking equipment and the menus. The young fellows all used canister gas stoves and existed almost entirely on canned things like canned soup, Spagetti-0's, Chef-Boy-RD raviolli, and lots of very good beer. They clearly drank better than they ate, but they shared so I respected that...
The older fellows paid a lot more attention to cooking. We cooked stews from scratch, baked yeast breads, made cobbler desserts. Even our beans were cooked from dried beans, not cans. I am not sure WHY the thought of bringing the stuff pre-made in cans did not occur to us, but it just seemed natural to bring stuff we dried and made ourselves. Honestly, though, the Dinty Moore stew from a can looked every bit as good as what we cooked from scratch.
Perhaps one of the most obvious differences is that the old dudes used liquid fuel stoves: MSR Whisperlites, Coleman Peak, etc. I guess you could say that the stoves we used were all older than our young companions. The younger dudes ALL used small canister gas stoves. Many in my generation of backpackers used to pooh-pooh canister gas because you have to haul in/out empty canisters, blah blah blah - you know the arguments for/against the various fuels.
But it was interesting that the fuel choice would have an age demographic to it. Of course, both worked. The canister gas made sense if all you are doing is heating up canned soup or frying a grilled cheese sandwhich. For long cooking, like cooking the beans in the pressure cooker, liquid fuel was almost a necessity due to the fuel use.
I do remember being more of a minimalist in my younger days and being completely satisfied with instant oameal for breakfast and handfulls of gorp for lunch, but being able to cook fancy meals at camp - especially with a fire gave a fellow bragging rites at least as big as an advanced knot tying expert.
What was fun, though, was that the younger fellows wanted to learn how to cook well at camp. They were curious on the first day, but by the second day, they wanted to help out and learn how to bake bread and cobblers and stews from scratch.
It was a neat experience because my three "old" friends and I are 50+ years old and have been back-country camping together for 25+ years. The other fellows were in their early thirties or maybe late twenties and were mostly new to us with the exception that a couple of them were the sons of friends.
The most distinct differences was the cooking equipment and the menus. The young fellows all used canister gas stoves and existed almost entirely on canned things like canned soup, Spagetti-0's, Chef-Boy-RD raviolli, and lots of very good beer. They clearly drank better than they ate, but they shared so I respected that...
The older fellows paid a lot more attention to cooking. We cooked stews from scratch, baked yeast breads, made cobbler desserts. Even our beans were cooked from dried beans, not cans. I am not sure WHY the thought of bringing the stuff pre-made in cans did not occur to us, but it just seemed natural to bring stuff we dried and made ourselves. Honestly, though, the Dinty Moore stew from a can looked every bit as good as what we cooked from scratch.
Perhaps one of the most obvious differences is that the old dudes used liquid fuel stoves: MSR Whisperlites, Coleman Peak, etc. I guess you could say that the stoves we used were all older than our young companions. The younger dudes ALL used small canister gas stoves. Many in my generation of backpackers used to pooh-pooh canister gas because you have to haul in/out empty canisters, blah blah blah - you know the arguments for/against the various fuels.
But it was interesting that the fuel choice would have an age demographic to it. Of course, both worked. The canister gas made sense if all you are doing is heating up canned soup or frying a grilled cheese sandwhich. For long cooking, like cooking the beans in the pressure cooker, liquid fuel was almost a necessity due to the fuel use.
I do remember being more of a minimalist in my younger days and being completely satisfied with instant oameal for breakfast and handfulls of gorp for lunch, but being able to cook fancy meals at camp - especially with a fire gave a fellow bragging rites at least as big as an advanced knot tying expert.
What was fun, though, was that the younger fellows wanted to learn how to cook well at camp. They were curious on the first day, but by the second day, they wanted to help out and learn how to bake bread and cobblers and stews from scratch.
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