What food do you eat? – Australian Antarctic Program (2024)
People eat pretty much the same things that you eat at home in Australia.
There is a chef on station who cooks most of the meals. As a result, everyone gets a good variety of things to eat while living on station. Often there will be a theme night, such as an Indian banquet. On these occasions, not only is the food prepared according to the theme, but many expeditioners will also come in an appropriate costume.
All food is delivered during the summer resupply. In order for it to last for an entire year much of the food is frozen or tinned. Each ship into station will typically deliver “fresh” fruit and vegetables — but these have already been on a ship for several weeks. Stations also have hydroponics in hot house conditions to grow a few fresh vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes. These are used to augment the winter food supplies.
Not all food that is eaten on station can be taken out into the field — for example, poultry (chicken, eggs, turkey). This is to prevent the spread of diseases to Antarctic wildlife, particularly penguins. Antibodies to Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (a disease of domestic poultry) have been found in penguins, indicating they had previously been exposed to this disease.
Once the fresh food is used up, expeditioners mostly eat food that has been frozen, canned or dried.This is supplemented with hydroponically grown salad vegetables. Food that is kept for a long time must be stored carefully, with the older stocks being used first.
While old favorites, such as biscuits, sugar, pemmican, butter, and cheese, are still a staple in Antarctic cuisine, they play a much less prominent role. Carb-heavy foods like pasta and pizza remain critically important dishes at all research stations.
The supplies consist principally of freeze-dried or dried main meals, several varieties of dried soup, dried vegetables, rice, tea, coffee, drinking chocolate, orange drink, biscuits, chocolate, butter, sugar, porridge, and dried milk.
Due to the lack of permanent inhabitants and the brutal environment, there are no generations of residents to pass dishes down to, meaning Antarctica has no national dish. While you may not see a single piece of fruit or veg, seafood is very popular, with shellfish being a particular favourite.
In Antarctica, it's so cold that the average person needs to consume between 3,200 and 5,000 calories a day. And because the continent is frozen, no food grows there naturally.
There is currently a McDonald's franchise restaurant in every single continent in the world, with the singular exception of Antarctica. The reason there is no McDonald's restaurant is more than likely due to the extremely desolate and sparsely population consisting mainly of penguins and fish.
Because there are no physical restaurants on Antarctica proper, chefs try to keep their menus interesting and serve rotating selection of popular food in a variety of cuisines.
The most commonly spoken language of Antarctica is Russian, which happens to be the official language of Bellingsgauzenia, New Devon, and Ognia. English is also one of the most widespread languages spoken.
While most deserts only cover part of a continent, the Antarctic Polar Desert spans the whole of Antarctica. It snows and rains on the coastal Antarctic Peninsula, but in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in East Antarctica, it never rains.
Southern bluefin tuna typically live in oceans found in the Southern Hemisphere, from the tropics to the sub-Antarctic. They make yearly spawning trips to the southeast of Java. They mainly range in the east Indian Ocean, through the Southern Ocean and into the southwest Pacific.
We recommend a waterproof jacket & fleece (if your ship isn't providing them), waterproof trousers, gloves (thick + liner), a hat, a couple of pairs of socks and underwear and a set of base thermals, as well as your photography equipment and binoculars.
Antarctica is renowned for its isolation from the rest of the world. There are no cities on the continent. No homes, no businesses, and, most importantly, no grocery stores. This can become a problem when you are trying to feed forty-five people on station, and the closest grocery store is days away.
Ringed seal and bearded seal are the most important aspect of an Inuit diet and is often the largest part of an Inuit hunter's diet. Land mammals such as reindeer (caribou), polar bear, and muskox. Birds and their eggs. Saltwater and freshwater fish including sculpin, Arctic cod, Arctic char, capelin and lake trout.
Introduction: My name is Dean Jakubowski Ret, I am a enthusiastic, friendly, homely, handsome, zealous, brainy, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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