The challenges of keeping scientists fed and happy in Antarctica

(CNN) — No place on Earth is colder than East Antarctica. Because of to its higher elevation, not even West Antarctica can touch its hostile temperatures.

Princess Elisabeth, a polar investigate station in the Queen Maud Land location, faces wind speeds of up to 155 mph (249 kph) and temperatures as very low as -58°F (-50°C). A aptitude for comfort and ease food items is understandably a requisite talent for any chef working in this atmosphere.

“As individuals are outdoors in particularly cold temperatures and severe conditions, I like to make anything good and heavy for the entire body, like fondue and raclette. Heaps of it,” states chef Thomas Duconseille, who mans this distant Antarctic post for numerous months just about every yr.

When you will find a team of cold researchers all over 3,100 miles from the closest town and at minimum 9,900 miles from household, it would make perception that sizzling cheese goes a prolonged way. If only the rest of Duconseille’s culinary obligations ended up this clear-cut — cooking in these disorders will come with one of a kind difficulties.

Seven seasons in Antarctica

Princess Elisabeth is anchored to the ridge beside Utsteinen Nunatak, a mountain acknowledged as “the outer stone,” in the Sør Rondane mountain range. Outdoors Duconseille’s business window lie icy granite mountains and vibrant white lowlands dotted with in-industry lodging models, laboratory containers, and wind turbines that sprout from the snow.

All through the summertime months of November to February, the glacial, mountainous landscape is bathed in frequent light — the sunlight slips guiding the ridge for just 3 hrs a working day. In the course of this time, scientists from Belgium, France, Germany, Turkey, India and the United States use the encompassing 124 miles of mountains, shoreline, glaciers, and the Antarctic Plateau to conduct scientific investigate and to build tactics to address local climate modify. Some remain for a handful of months and some others may possibly continue to be for the season. Duconseille, the resident chef at Princess Elisabeth, is there for the full four months. This 12 months is his seventh period in Antarctica.

Chef Thomas Duconseille performs at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station for many months each calendar year.

Courtesy Global Polar Basis

Princess Elisabeth, operated by Brussels-centered Intercontinental Polar Foundation, has been in company considering that early 2009, building it one particular of the more recent polar analysis stations. While it may possibly be young, it truly is the world’s first zero-emission polar investigation station, relying solely on renewable electricity in 1 of the world’s harshest environments. It is really also a sight to behold. Resting atop the ridge, Princess Elisabeth resembles a freshly landed hexagonal spacecraft, its sleek silver panels reflecting the shiny whites of the polar landscape.

It truly is tricky to believe that that within, there is brioche baking.

“We put together our own bread and prepare dinner it listed here. New bread is essential. I like to make brioche for breakfast with chocolate within,” states Duconseille. As a Frenchman, superior bread is as considerably a way of lifetime at his article in Antarctica as it is back again dwelling in Normandy, or in the Alps, exactly where he spends the much better section of the year catering to an additional breed of explorers on Mont Blanc.

As Princess Elisabeth is a six-hour flight from the closest metropolis — Cape Town, South Africa — Duconseille makes certain meat, fish and veggies are frozen to previous the time and that eggs are stored in 5-liter crates with the whites and yolks separated. As for the fresh substances, a bundle of these cherished goods is flown in every single thirty day period from Cape Town — offering the weather conditions is just not too wild.

The problems of fresh foods for a distant outpost

In spite of its altitude — 4,475 ft above sea amount — Princess Elisabeth continues to be comfortably warm and secured from the features thanks to a durable mixture of woolen felt, major-duty Kraft paper, aluminum, wooden panels, polystyrene, waterproofing membrane, polyethylene foam, and stainless metal.

“For the duration of the summer time months, we never have to have to use heating inside the station, since all the radiation from the sun, and our own existence within the station, is ample to sustain an internal temperature of 20-21°C (68-69.8°F),” claims Henri Robert, a science liaison officer at Princess Elisabeth.

By way of a hybrid program of nine wind turbines and 408 photo voltaic photovoltaic panels, the electrical power of 100 times of round-the-clock sunshine and ferocious gusts of wind is harnessed to energy the station.

“We now have the solar all day very long as we are reduced than the Arctic Circle. Thankfully, you can find this mountain to the south of us, so the sunlight goes at the rear of it and we get a little bit of shade for a couple of hrs, and then the solar rises once more. But it never ever goes down below the horizon,” claims Robert, a indigenous of Belgium.

The station is the world’s first zero-emission polar research station, relying solely on renewable vitality in a person of the world’s harshest environments.

Courtesy Intercontinental Polar Basis

To arrive at Princess Elisabeth, the crew flies from Cape City on a DC-3 plane, an plane nicely-suited to transporting cargo and maneuvering icy runways. The flight will take a small over six hours and then it’s a 90-moment journey from the airstrip to the station. Refreshing food such as greens and milk is also transported working with the DC-3, and this operation is repeated just about every month (temperature allowing).

It is a set-up that may possibly strike panic into the hearts of all those who routinely rely on that very last-minute sprint to the grocery retailer for that neglected handful of contemporary herbs or cup of thickened product, but Duconseille has tailored to the rigors of the work.

“More and much more, I have grown used to waiting a thirty day period between contemporary foods deliveries. Yrs back, when I very first started out the task, it was difficult simply because fresh new food items wears fast. With encounter, I know what will go poor very first, so for the first 7 days, we have a great deal of refreshing salads. I take care of it so I can make these ingredients final as lengthy as probable. More than these 4 months, I am able to regulate, and until the fourth 7 days I can continue to supply anything appetizing to take in,” says Duconseille.

Sustenance and foodstuff storage

The meals Duconseille prepares at Princess Elisabeth are different, such as soups, meats, pizza, salads, quiches, and desserts. “You will find usually a vegetarian or vegan selection — so all people has a variety to opt for from,” states Duconseille. For distinctive instances, like Christmas and New Year’s, the chef prepares dishes including foie gras, turkey with stuffing, and iced nougat.

“As a shopper, I can say it can be like remaining in a cafe. It really is wonderful — it’s a full dinner,” suggests Robert.

The station typically sees concerning 20 to 30 crew members at after, but more than the yrs the facilities have expanded to support 45 to 50 people today. Crew customers alternate serving to Duconseille in the kitchen area by placing the table, drying and storing dishes, or peeling large portions of potatoes. Sustenance is a group effort and hard work.

Specified the isolation of the station and the fluctuating crew numbers, it really is important that a reserve of staple meals is managed from season to season. Transporting extended-lasting and non-perishable merchandise like grains, beans, and tinned tomatoes to the station is a different beast to the every month new foodstuff drops.

Some provisions get there in shipping containers from Belgium.

Courtesy Worldwide Polar Basis

“From Belgium, we fill up shipping containers with a significant quantity of dried and frozen meals and every single other year, a ship arrives and supplies us with these ingredients,” suggests Duconseille.

At the station, foodstuff is stored downstairs, wherever there is a massive home with shelving for the dry food stuff, a freezer about the measurement of a delivery container (-13°F), and a smaller fridge (41-44°F). “We really have fridges that we want to heat up due to the fact lots of substances like particular fruits can not be frozen,” claims Duconseille.

Duconseille will not strategy foods in advance, but maintains a robust meals stock, so he is aware of precisely what’s in the financial institution. The important mother nature of the contemporary elements means that the placement needs adaptability and creativity.

“I cook by sensation — relying on the amount of persons there, or what foods will be likely bad shortly. It all relies upon on what we have,” claims Duconseille.

As there is a vary of polar landscapes to be analyzed in eastern Antarctica, researchers at Princess Elisabeth head out on common industry trips. The chef performs a crucial role in the achievement of these expeditions.

“These industry trips can just take two-a few weeks and require four to six people today. For this, I have to have to estimate the meals they will will need away from the station. Each and every time I cook dinner a huge food, I freeze parts so that researchers can just take these, defrost, and take pleasure in, without the need of needing to waste important time in the field,” suggests Duconseille.

Crew associates at the station conduct scientific research and acquire approaches to handle weather modify.

Courtesy Intercontinental Polar Basis

‘I have often been drawn to atypical landscapes’

For the previous decade, Duconseille has been a supervisor at a range of mountain huts in the French Alps, like Mont Blanc’s Goûter Hut, the maximum wardened mountain hut in France.

“I have normally been drawn to atypical landscapes, gorgeous locations, sites at altitude. It can be a smaller entire world — the entire world of persons who do this function in these regions — so an additional prepare dinner told the station’s director about me. Working at a person put can open new doors, and which is how I bought from the Alps to Antarctica,” states Duconseille.

Exterior of the Antarctic summer time, he continues his operate in the French Alps, furnishing food items, accommodation and guidance to persons hiking just one of the five routes up Mont Blanc, which rises to 15,771 feet (4,807 meters).

The Princess Elisabeth crew is effective 6 days a week. Relying on the disorders, Sunday is entertaining day. The staff is free to accompany area guides and take a look at the neighboring nunataks, the mountain ridges that emerge from the ice like bony plates on a stegosaurus’ again.

Ailments at Princess Elisabeth station can be brutal.

International Polar Foundation

“I get pleasure from strolling in the mountains with the relaxation of the group, and I’m also a runner, so I like going for a run at the 1.2-mile-very long airstrip. But normally, on Sunday, I’ll read, choose a nap, and prepare for the week in advance,” says Duconseille.

Some of the staff love cross-country skiing. Some take it up a notch, and head to the massive slope, for alpine snowboarding. Of program, there are no ski lifts, so what goes down should come up — that is if you want a second lap. Robert, a biologist and birdwatcher, seizes the opportunity of getting these kinds of uncommon access to the White Continent.

“We have 124 miles of ice in advance of we achieve the coast. All through this area, we have stunning wildlife, colonies of birds breeding right below — so we are not entirely by itself. It is generally remarkable to come listed here due to the fact I’m passionate about birds. When I have the opportunity, I go to the nunatak and observe the birds that are breeding there, or I will relaxation on Sunday. It all is dependent on the weather,” claims Robert.

Foods and morale are intertwined

Fresh meals which includes greens and milk arrives by way of DC-3 each thirty day period (weather allowing).

Courtesy Intercontinental Polar Basis

Duconseille’s knowledge controlling isolated mountain refuges has geared up him for the section of the work that goes outside of delivering sustenance: generating a household significantly from home.

With subglacial lakes, katabatic winds, and a 300-mile-huge crater rumored to be concealed beneath the japanese ice sheet, Antarctica is more than just the world’s most isolated continent: it can look like a different planet completely. Though the station is comfy and properly equipped (Robert described it as becoming “very pleasant… like a chalet in Switzerland”), the extreme isolation, unpredictable polar temperature, and months away from house and loved ones can don down even the most intrepid.

“In Antarctica, food is crucial for crew morale — it is important to assure individuals are delighted all around the desk and get collectively immediately after a very long working day. I like to cook dinner desserts and cakes so that persons can be delighted at the conclude of the working day,” claims Duconseille.

If the chef spends his time bringing pleasure to the crew in the variety of golden brioche and molten cheese, what is it that delivers him joy?

“It is really tricky for the initial several days when I go away my family. But when you arrive, you’re in this setting where by you’re operate-focused and captivated by the beautiful surroundings. Existence is enjoyable, there is often one thing occurring. We are taking treatment of a lot of folks and scientific activities.”

Leaving Antarctica once more is bittersweet.

“At the stop of summer months, we are delighted to come house, but it truly is a combined feeling: we’re unhappy to depart Antarctica,” suggests Duconseille. “It can be an remarkable natural environment and a one of a kind daily life that we have in this article.”