Cooking up a Storm in the Antarctic

“Some of you have asked why I want to do this. Simply put, I want an adventure. Very few people can say they have been to the seventh continent, and it is my dream to visit all of them. One day I would like to teach at JWU and to do that I need to get back into the industry and gain experience. So why not get some of the most unusual sort available?” writes Zachary Hedden ’06.

On Saturday, Aug. 2, Hedden arrived at McMurdo Station in Antarctica where he spent three months as lead cook. It was summertime there, which means 24 hours of sunlight. The temperature upon arrival was a balmy minus 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hedden, who worked at the Providence Campus as culinary experiential education specialist from 2006 until July, is now a government subcontractor for the U.S. Antarctic Program, funded by the National Science Foundation. Research on ice — climatology, geology, glaciology and ecosystems — that cannot be done elsewhere is done there.

McMurdo, one of three main stations, supports 1,300 people during the summer, so Hedden is cooking lots of food. “And it is not cafeteria slop,” says Hedden, who has a degree in nutrition. “The food on ‘the ice’ is important for two reasons; morale and nutrition … staff work hard to maintain high nutritional quality for the scientists who tend to lose weight from being outside in the cold, and the support staff who tend to gain weight from being indoors with free food all the time.”

Once Hedden settled in with his government-issued extreme-cold-weather clothing and other supplies, he described his first night on his blog. “We were privy to the most spectacular sight ever ... nacreous clouds; evil little buggars, but beautiful nonetheless. I could have stayed out all night staring at them if the wind chill wasn't at a brisk -62°F.”