St. Louis science teacher talks about eating in Antarctica

The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are probably the driest place on Earth. Because it is protected by mountains, there is little rainfall. Any snow that happens to blow there will quickly evaporate. And it’s too cold for bacteria to survive. Basically, food does not spoil.

Bill Henske, a science teacher at Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School, spent several months in Antarctica a year ago. He took part in a long-term ecological research project investigating changes in life forms in exposed soils, primarily microorganisms living in rocks.

Some of these organisms can remain dormant for years or even decades at a time. If the conditions are right, they will be active for a short period of time and then go dormant again. No one knows for sure, but it could be centuries old.

Henske was at McMurdo from December until February, or late summer. The sun never sets. It was daylight the entire time he was there. Temperatures ranged from about 10 degrees to 30 degrees, but the temperatures never remained hot enough for bacteria to grow, at least on surfaces.

Seals and sometimes penguins get lost and accidentally head inland. Henske said that even when they die, their bodies do not decompose. They become mummified. They persist until they are eroded away by wind-blown sand.

Built as a naval base, McMurdo Station is now a community of scientists operated by the National Science Foundation. Approximately 1,200 people live and work in dormitory-style buildings. They eat in the galley, which Henske said is “kind of like a college cafeteria, with a pasta station, a salad bar and a big dessert bar.”

Residents eat well, or at least eat a lot. Their work burns a lot of calories. However, there are limits to what they can eat.

It would be too expensive to transport food by air using human-only helicopters. All food is brought in by his one cargo ship, which enters the port several times a year following an icebreaker.

The station’s two bars (Gallagher’s and Southern Exposure) will be closed the week the ship arrives. Apparently Mr. Henske said there would be too much noise with the sailors in town.

But it wasn’t just the sailors. The bar stopped selling alcoholic beverages altogether in October after persistent complaints of sexual harassment and assault. Currently, alcohol is only distributed in bottles.

The New Zealand-based ship carries whatever it can, but that mostly means frozen or canned food. No fresh fruit or vegetables.

As such, there was no lettuce on the salad bar, but there was an assortment of coleslaw and rice-based salads, kimchi, and more. Sometimes pickled items were served throughout the bar.

“Sunday brunch was like an all-you-can-eat buffet with a carving station. It was usually pretty edible,” Henske said.

Residents are limited by weight in the amount of clothing and equipment they can bring, but some choose to carry as much fresh fruit and vegetables as possible. They use this for barter.

“Some people get an avocado and walk around with it, so everyone knows they have an avocado,” he says.

Once, hundreds of oranges somehow arrived at the station. One of the graduate students came over with it and started screaming. They came! “

“Everyone started streaming and running to get it. It’s funny how excited people were. People were doing business. Even though they had so much food There was so much excitement and enthusiasm for a piece of fruit,” Henske said.

He said the kitchen staff took pride in what they created, from chicken fried steak to taco night, potato bar and daily pizza. They always offered at least four types of freshly baked cookies, pies, and cakes in “unimaginable flavor combinations made with random ingredients.”

In the summer, the sun shines all day long, but in the winter there is no sunlight at all, so the station operates on a rotating basis 24 hours a day. Due to the kitchen staff’s convenience, the meals were scheduled at the same time, with the night shift eating dinner while the day shift was having breakfast. Those who come for dinner always receive their food first, Henske said. “It was sacred.”

When meals were not being served, the galley was always open for coffee, popcorn, and snacks. Snacks were always a big hit. And residents sometimes took advantage of the unusual weather conditions.

“Many foods are 10 to 15 years past their best-before dates. Some graduate students and I played a game and tried to find the oldest food to eat,” he said.

“Dried and canned goods are going to be there forever. Some things that are supposed to be shelf-stable, like Slim Jim, may not be shelf-stable for 10 years.”

One piece of equipment in the galley has achieved almost cult status, Henske said. It’s the “Frosty Boy” machine.

Frosty Boy is a popular soft-serve ice cream chain in Australia and New Zealand (acquired by American company Kent in December). One of their machines is located at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. It’s so popular that contests are sometimes held among residents to see who can eat or heap the most. Some long-term residents even designed their own Frosty Boy shirts.

“No one on staff knew how to operate the Frosty Boy, so it could be made with milk or other items. Sometimes they wouldn’t clean what was inside,” Henske said. he said.

You never know what flavor you’re going to get or what texture it’s going to be.

“There were so many dials that we were constantly tweaking to make it creamy. They could definitely hire a full-time Frosty Boy mechanic.”

Daniel Neman – 314-340-8133