"We are the morale committee at South Pole," says James Brown, South Pole Executive Chef and nine-year Pole veteran, about the mission of the South Pole Station galley. "Our goal is to provide good food at every meal, with a smile and great attitude toward the community and each other." Each and every day, James and his staff of 16 prepare four meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and MidRats - "midnight rations" for the night crews) for the 250 people in the South Pole Station during the summer season.
Executive Chef James Brown suits up and gets ready to meet the C-130 that is bringing in a load of food for his galley
I must admit I was concerned about the food before my trip. At the South Pole, fresh produce, canned goods, frozen goods, every bit of food must come from thousands of miles away, by ship or plane to McMurdo and then on board a C-130 the rest of the way. This, I was sure, must certainly lead to serious sacrifices in taste and quality! But thankfully, I was way off.
James plans way in advance for the summer season at the South Pole, ordering most of the food while still in Centennial, Colorado, where the Raytheon offices are located. Raytheon is the logistics provider for the South Pole Station, which means they coordinate most of the non-research stuff like transportation, power, food, construction, etc. He is only here for the four summer months, and spends the other eight months planning for the following summer, and communicating with the winter staff that remains at the pole.
Throughout the summer season, a weekly shipment of "freshies" arrives from New Zealand - fresh veggies, fruit, eggs, and other treats that add to the usual assortment of frozen groceries. As a (semi-)vegetarian (yes, I eat dairy, eggs, and even fish) I very much appreciate the effort that the galley crew puts into providing excellent vegetarian options at every meal. In fact, I often see non-vegetarians taking a serving of the veggie option in addition to the meat option. Fortunately, there's always plenty.
Eric shows off his egg ninjitsu on an unsuspecting fresh egg. This one turned out to be a double yolk!
Waste is a big issue down here, since every bit of waste product must be flown back out to the US. So, whenever they have leftovers, they are of course used to their full potential, in creative and tasty ways. Leftovers are also usually put in a leftover fridge for people who missed the meal for some reason or another, or just felt like going back for seconds after hours. This careful treatment of waste also extends to the dishwashing room, where diners are expected to sort their burnable trash, food waste, glass, plastic, etc.
Adam and Matt ham it up a bit in the dish room. These guys are gurus of the complex recycling system at the Pole.
When asked about the most popular meals, James says, "The most popular dishes are the two holiday meals. For Thanksgiving dinner we prepare three types of turkey: smoked, roasted and deep fried. For Christmas we prepare beef Wellington and Lobster tails." Other popular meals are burger day, grilled cheese & tomato soup, and one I got to experience my first week here: Filet mignon and crab legs. Life is rough down here at the south pole...
Crab legs for dinner! What can I say - it's a harsh continent.
The aftermath of the crab feed.
Obviously Raytheon and the National Science Foundation understand that food is critical to morale down here, and made sure the kitchen was well-prepared for the job. "In regards to the equipment we have in the kitchen, it is very similar to what you would see in a restaurant kitchen. No expense was spared in giving us state of the art equipment."
Freezing food, of course, is not a problem here. In fact, until this year, the old Dome station had served as probably the world's largest walk-in freezer. Thawing out the food, once it's frozen to -30°C or colder, becomes a challenge.
Some recipes are more difficult than others, mostly because of the altitude which can affect things like baking (check the side of a box of brownies or cake - notice the "high altitude" directions?). But the South Pole galley staff is very knowledgeable about high altitude cooking techniques and recipes.
In the galley, Bethany and Carol put together some great food under very challenging circumstances
Other major concerns for the galley staff are safety and energy conservation. "Safety is our number one priority at South Pole," says James, "and if someone is injured, even if It's minimal, it takes much longer for something to heal because of the long hours/less down time and extremely dry air." As for energy conservation, all the energy is provided through fuel that is flown to the pole on C-130s. The basic cost of fuel is on the order of $30 per gallon... so yeah, energy conservation is important!
It has been said that "an army marches on its stomach" (maybe Napoleon said this, or Frederick the Great...). That definitely holds true for the army of researchers and support staff down here at the South Pole - especially since in this cold, we burn more calories than we would in the states - and our stomachs are definitely happy.
Chocolate soft serve on a fresh brownie (with some peanut butter chips sprinkled on top) - one of the rare occasions when Frosty Boy (the notoriously ill-tempered soft-serve machine) was up and running.