Eats

Most meals are taken at the Galley. This dining hall is in the main building in town and serves meals at the regular times we’re all accustomed to, but also smaller meals throughout the day and night to accommodate all the hungry stomachs that are working 24/7 on the base. There are also smaller dining facilities out at the Ice Runway and other local project sites for those who work remotely.

There is a decent variety of food, much better than I would have expected, and usually always something to suit your appetite. They have set themed meals, such as Wednesday Mexican Lunch, which some people really seem to live for; as for me, I never keep track of the schedule and enjoy the surprise.

No matter how you look at it, the food is institutional, which means a lot of canned food. And powdered milk, it’s all powdered milk. Due to the remoteness of the location and the fact that the bulk of the food arrives once a year on a ship, there’s a lot of stuff that is passed its use-by-date. In fact, I think every packaged good I have seen is expired. Don’t get me wrong, its all still good, but I’m glad I don’t have to see when the frozen meats were packaged!

What the inside of my stomach probably looks like

Freshies
One thing that is great and everyone on base gets excited about- Freshies! There is an understated buzz and everyone seems to know when a C-17 is coming in from Christchurch with a palette or two of fresh fruits and veggies and other perishables. This year the freshies budget has been boosted from $150k to $250k, so its quite abundant, but I've heard that in years past it could get quite ugly.

Frosty Boy
And the other excitable thing about dining here is Frosty Boy. This soft-serve ice cream machine is the most popular piece of machinery down here, and when he is broken everyone seems to know about it and no one is happy about it. Strange phenomenon, but I guess it goes to show that it’s the small things in life that are the most important sometimes.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am quite flexible and that I can eat anything, so I’m not too phased about what they serve. The only things that really get to me are a) that you never really get a choice beyond the choices you see in front of you, and b) nothing is ever really really good. Christchurch and the real world are a long way off, and I’m not pining for anything in particular now, but one of the greatest pleasures of returning will be to my tastebuds.