Prisca is a polar traveller, enthusiast, networker and more. She’s adventured 10 degrees from the North Pole and explored the Antarctic Peninsula, the Falklands and the Southern Ocean. Prisca manages a cool Linkedin group called Polar Professionals.
“I quickly learned that no man was an island especially in the polar regions. Politics, research, weather, ice conditions, social conventions, communications, search and rescue, pipelines, language, history and reindeer herders – everything impacted in some manner what we did. That experience was the inspiration behind the launch of this group.”
Thanks for blogging about our Dec 14 Antarctic Centenary Event and the polar dialogue. 
The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning
December 15, 2011 by polarprisca
An experienced polar leader told me that food can make or break an expedition. I can attest to that fact. My polar memories are larded with food experiences like a cup of mulled wine on the bow of a vessel in the Gerlache Strait, or a barbecue on the ice at the North Pole.
So I should not have been surprised to find mulled wine and bison and Saskatoon berry pemmican being served at the public launch of The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning. The cookbook won’t be in print until late 2012. You can preorder a copy online at the official website.
The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning is a food and cultural history book that weaves journal excerpts, recipes and images from a modern day environmental expedition with those of early explorers to the bottom of the world.
Cooking in the title refers to the recipes you’ll find in the book. Cleaning refers to the purpose of the 1995-1996 Antarctic expedition in which the authors, foodie Wendy Trusler and environmental activist Carol Devine, took part.
The Russian-Canadian clean-up project on King George Island off the Antarctic Peninsula was manned by volunteers. According to Devine, they “picked up hundreds of old nails by hand,” as well as collected garbage and moved fuel pipes.
Trusler’s job was to cook for the Americans, Canadians and South Africans who came for short stays and long days of hard work at Bellingshausen Station. The Russian Antarctic Expedition was the first to accept Devine’s offer of assistance.
To write the cookbook, the authors relived their adventure through the documents they had saved – letters, journals and provision lists. Food is the theme that ties their very personal experience to the history of the southern continent’s exploration and discovery.
Still in production, the full-colour book will be 144 pages in length, with photography by Sandy Nicholson, and archival black and white photographs from the historic age of Antarctic exploration.
The sampling menu served at tonight’s event, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen’s triumphant arrival at the South Pole, included Rosemary Maple Borscht served with Honey Oatmeal Braids and Cook’s Bread. Delicious!
