Gone are the days of spam (Credit: Vicky Inglis)
We keep a selection of food with us in the pantry of the Nissen hut (our home) for day-to-day use. When we start to run low, instead of popping down to the local supermarket, we gather our bags and go down to the Boat Shed, where the bulk of our food is stored.
The boatshed storage at Port Lockroy (Credit: Lucy Bruzzone)
Alongside these staples, our food supply is regularly supplemented with fresh food by cruise ships that bring visitors to the island. This includes fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, yoghurt, eggs, lots of cheese, and much to the team’s delight, pancakes and French pastries! This has happened much more regularly than we expected, so we’ve barely been a day without fresh food of some sort. Several of the ships have also invited the team on board for lunch or dinner, including buffets and barbeques (yes, a barbeque in Antarctica!). We’re very grateful to all of those that have generously provided fresh food and hot meals so far. Thank you!
With three-quarters of this year’s team being vegetarian, the menu might look a little different to other years, so we thought we’d give some examples of what we’ve been eating so far.
Getting creative (Credit: Natalie Corbett)
Breakfast
Usually, we have porridge with tinned fruit if we have no fresh supplies, but recently we’ve been having granola with yoghurt and fresh fruit for breakfast. When we don’t have pancakes, croissants or pain au chocolate that is!
Lunch
Lunch varies depending on how busy our schedule is for the day. We often have soup with bread or crackers and cheese, pesto pasta, or frittata. Lucy managed to whip us up some savoury pancakes with pesto and pine nuts one day, which went down very well. After we were kindly delivered some avocados (thanks Domski), we had toast with avocado and fried eggs. Not a meal that any of us expected to be eating in Antarctica!
Dinner
It’s safe to say the team very much look forward to dinner every day after a busy day of work and being in the cold. Everybody has been making a great effort to cook up inventive meals to warm us up. Dinner has included pasta bakes, Indian and Thai curry, stir fry, fajitas, and a few days the team dubbed the ‘cheese bonanza’ after we generously donated seven kilos of cheese. Macaroni cheese and aubergine and cheese bake were some firm favourites.
Fajitas at Port Lockroy (Credit: Lucy Bruzzone)
Mairi Hilton, General Assistant, Wildlife Monitor at Port Lockroy
Many historic expeditions and explorers, including the men of Operation Tabarin (a top secret mission to Antarctica during World War II) have followed this same route to Antarctica. Whilst I set sail on a modern ship, the 14 men of Operation Tabarin left Stanley on 2 small ships, one of which was not ice strengthened. Not only did they have the dangers of a polar expedition in front of them, but also the potential threat of enemy forces during WWII.
This film captures the 134ft HMS William Scorseby at sea in Feb 1944 (Reproduced courtesy of BAS Archives, Ref AD6/16/1944/1.1).
We, like our polar ancestors, are now heading South through the furious 50°’s and eventually to the screaming 60°’s, where the winds batter the Southern Ocean, with terrifying intensity. I cannot begin to imagine what it would have been on The Scorseby, with the men of Operation Tabarin in such weather. I am hoping to experience some of the beauty and wonder of Antarctica’s wildlife on my journey there. With perhaps a small bit of Antarctic adventure thrown in. Although perhaps I should be careful what I wish for!
Follow the team’s progress on social media using #BacktoAntarctica
