Top 3 Essential Antarctic Foods
A lot of food is needed in order to survive the harsh polar conditions of the Antarctic whilst dragging a 150kg pulk for over 80 days. Here, we’ve have listed three of the most important foods that we believe can make or break an expedition to the South Pole.
1 Butter – Full of fat and calories. On average there are about 717 calories per 100 grams of the stuff! Every major expedition since Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition in 1912 has used butter to get the right amount of calories per day in order to function against the extreme polar conditions. The team will be using butter in almost every meal to ensure we take on enough fat to reduce the threat of wasting away.
2 Nuts – They may be small in size, but nuts will make up to 2500 calories of our daily requirement of 8000 calories. The team will mainly eat nuts whilst skiing to reduce the time sitting down which must be kept to no more than 20 minutes at a time, or else the risk of hypothermia becomes extremely high. They are very easy to eat on the go. However, to avoid cracking a tooth, a good tip is to eat them with hot soup or water.
3 Chocolate calorie bomb – This is every girl’s nightmare however for us this could be a lifesaver. The ‘bomb’ itself is made of chocolate, golden syrup, toffee and caramel, which is then compressed into a 3x3x3 inch block, coming in at around 1000 calories – the equivalent of two Big Macs! This will be the team’s emergency ration, which will be used in the direst of situations to give an instant energy boost.
Food is what will get us to the South Pole and back safely and is a big part of keeping morale high; the only problem we will face is the dentist afterwards! To help us with the massive amount of food we need, Expedition Foods are kindly supporting the team and will help provide food at a discounted rate which is fit for use in Antarctica.
This list is only a small proportion of the food we will be taking to Antarctica but gives a snapshot of what we have to look forward to. Will it inspire you on your next expedition?
What would your polar expedition diet consist of?
