From gelato to taquitos: Here are 10 things Iditarod mushers are eating on the trail

It's not all trail mix and beef jerky out here on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Some mushers get fancy with their food. Others opt for convenience. Behold 10 musher meals on this 1,000-mile race to Nome.

1. Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King slurped slightly-melted sea salt caramel gelato at the checkpoint of Iditarod.

2. Monica Zappa ate a meal of quinoa, rice and five different mushrooms in Ophir. "It's my favorite go-to thing," she said. She makes it in bulk before the race. "I love my mushrooms."

3. For Matthew Failor, it's a chicken and cheese taquito at the Nikolai checkpoint. (Purchased from the freezer section of the grocery store before the race).

4. Aliy Zirkle eats freeze-dried beef stroganoff at the Takotna checkpoint.

5. In Shageluk, four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser gets ready to heat up beef tenderloin and rice — both stored in vacuum-sealed bags and dropped into a pot of boiling water. "I've got the very best food on the trail," he said. (When not steak, he's often spotted eating shrimp).

6. Cody Strathe chomps on a chocolate chip cookie in Grayling. His wife made it, he said.

7. Matt Hall says he mostly eats pouches of baby food on the trail. They're just easy, he said, and quick to heat up in his pocket. He likes the fruit flavors, specifically "mixed berry."

8. Jessie Holmes brought vegetable lasagna and freeze-dried salmon to Grayling.

9. Bradley Farquhar eats a meal of rice, beef and vegetables in Shageluk. He carried it into the checkpoint in a vacuum-sealed bag, microwaved it and, ta-da, warm breakfast.

10. And, lastly, here's a collection of items left behind by mushers in Shageluk: Cinnamon rolls, pasta, a baked potato and cabbage roll. The leftovers became a buffet for checkpoint volunteers.