It wasn't too awfully long ago that dining in national parks left much to be desired, with entrees built primarily, and unceremoniously, around chicken, beef and trout. That's not to say a good meal can't be built around these base ingredients. But after a long, sun-filled day hiking Yellowstone National Park's geyser basins or trekking into Garnet Canyon in Grand Teton National Park, a meal that's as stunning as the landscape is a great way to end the day.
Fortunately, today's park chefs are culinary maestros who perform as if they were trying to sate the gourmands of New York City or downtown San Francisco. And along with stretching their creative skills, they're also watching out for the environment.
"We're just trying to be environmentally friendly," says Jim Chapman, the executive chef for Xanterra Parks & Resorts at Yellowstone. "We're trying to consider what the impacts are on the choices of the foods that we put on the menu. We have several seafood items that we refuse to serve just because of their status as over-fished, or [because] the farming practices are destructive to the environment."