This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on June 3, 2022. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
Last Friday morning, while you eagerly awaited the weekly installment of Full Belly Files that never came, I was fork-deep in a single-serving bag of tuna, opting for cold, easy protein over the warm-grain welcoming of instant oatmeal for my morning sustenance.
I wasn’t at home — a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese seem to be my usual routine here — instead, I was waking deep in the pine-shaded, windswept high country of the Los Padres National Forest, backpacking with nearly a dozen buddies on an annual off-grid adventure.