It’s understandable that you would want to have something to eat during your weekend together. Food is necessary for survival, after all, and one would hope that you all have plans to return to the mainland with a pulse.

And while I encourage some healthy deliberation on your meal plan, I want to mention two things meant to both ground and inspire.

First, from a survival standpoint food isn’t really necessary at all. You can easily go a weekend without eating anything. People do this all the time. You won’t be great company, but unless you suffer from hypoglycemia or some other oddball malady, a few days without food will probably do your body more good than harm.

Secondly, the island could feed you indefinitely. Remember the book Island of the Blue Dolphins? It’s based on the true story of the last indigenous woman to have lived on San Nicolas Island. San Nicolas is one of the Channel Islands, but a good deal farther out from the mainland and not nearly as lush as where you’ll be staying on Santa Cruz. When she was found, she had been living alone for an estimated eighteen years.

She was found in her dress of green cormorant feathers, living in a hut she’d made of whale bones. Eighteen years she lived on that island totally by herself. They found bits of drying seal blubber before they found her. Everything she needed was there and she knew what to do because her people had taught her. They had been on the islands for some 13,000 years.

She was brought to the mainland and she died within seven weeks. Though we scramble to avoid it, scarcity is actually the precursor to industry. In contrast, abundance can kill with such ugly ferocity.

Plan your meals, but don’t stress over it. It literally makes no sense to do that. You’ll be fine, God willing.

You’re going to be more active on the island than you likely would be at home or the office. You’ll be doing some hiking. You’ll have the option of swimming. Just being outside will cause your body to use more energy in the maintenance of itself, so consider a diet rich in carbohydrates. I like nuts and seeds for this. And dried fruit. But mostly chocolate.

I think that’s one of the best pictures on the internet. A yummy ball of chocolate atop a cacao volcano. I find peace and deliverance in this picture.

Chocolate has so much power. Originally cultivated by the Olmecs, the ancient people of what is now Mexico, the stuff totally got around. There isn’t a culture in the world that would want to ever go back to life before chocolate. I think its influence is bigger than tea or coffee. It’s like on the same scale as salt and sugar cane.

Anyway, bring chocolate. It’s rich in carbs, tastes fabulous, and it will connect you to Mesoamerican history.

I really don’t have much more to suggest. As long as you plan on eating it the first day, you should be OK with most perishables. If you opt for a cooler or two, you can pretty much have anything you want for the duration of the weekend.

I tend to underthink my food. This is true for me in general, but even more so when I’m outside, so I don’t have a ton to offer on the subject.

On the flipside, there is nothing better than hanging out with someone who actually does think about food. There is this awesome thing that probably happens when you’re eating a moldy tortilla, for example, and then your hiking partner magically pulls out a slice of warm blueberry pie.

It’s never happened to me. It is a recurring fantasy, though. Probably because of my early immersion in gangsta’ rap, I’m incapable of romantic love. But I continue to believe that after a few German expressionist films and a slice of warm trail pie I might learn feelings. The films are easy to come by. It’s the pie (damn you!) that eludes me.

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