Imagine that you just canoed for two days, sleeping the night on cold rocky ground. The lake you paddled across is shimmering and surrounded by great green pines. Your body aches. Hunger nags constantly, your tongue having touched nothing colder than room temperature for days.

Then, chef for the evening canoes out to the middle of the lake and pulls out a black plastic trash bag.

Inside, there are two bags of instant chocolate pudding double bagged in gallon ziplocs.

The brown goo, created with filtered lake water and cooled at depth, is served. First it is spooned into dishes, revealing the lumpy texture of no-whisk-to-be-found mixing.

Later, the server does what needs to be done: he cuts off the corner and squeezes out the last of the pud'.

Inevitable jokes about the dessert's resemblance to excrement begin. Hilarity continues after campers wipe their bowls with tissue to pre-clean them.

Overall, the camping crowd is surprised: a whim of a dessert, cheap and easy, was not only tasty, but a source of amusement. Back Country Chocolate Pudding is a delightful success, sure to be repeated on future trips.

Our Canada 2010 trip was exhausting and challenging but the food was great. This is the first of a few posts detailing what and how we ate.

PS. The above 'sink in lake' procedure could work for any flavor of pudding including butterscotch, vanilla, or pistachio. The entertainment value, a.k.a. poop jokes, will be lost if chocolate is not used.