What Do You Eat in Antarctica? | Antarctic Extremes

If you’re a penguin or other seabird in Antarctica, there’s plenty of fish (and some seal placenta) to go around. But what do the people eat?

Generally, an adult human consumes around 1,600 to 3,000 calories daily. But in colder climates, people need to eat more: Keeping our warm-blooded bodies warm requires a lot of energy. It’s so cold in Antarctica that the average person needs to consume 3,200 to 5,000 calories a day (watch out, Michael Phelps). And because the continent is frozen, no food grows there naturally.

So how do the hundreds of scientists and support personnel who visit Antarctica’s McMurdo Station each year stay fed?

Throughout their one-month stay in Antarctica, hosts Caitlin Saks and Arlo Pérez discover the secret sauce of Antarctic cooking from experts at McMurdo’s galley (Hint: Need to reconstitute a meal? Just add cheese! Need to keep that cheese beyond its expiration date? That’s what freezers are for) and scientists at remote research sites. They glimpse the early days of Antarctic food storage at a long-preserved hut from theTerra Nova Expedition that began in 1910.

Along the way, Caitlin and Arlo discover the glory of 24/7 pizza and “freshies,” the cardboard-like texture of a protein bar several years past its expiration date, and the true meaning of “eat your vegetables.”
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Hosted by Caitlin Saks and Arlo Pérez
Editor/Digital Associate Producer: Arlo Pérez
Producer: Caitlin Saks
Field Director/Cinematographer: Zachary Fink
Executive Producer: Julia Cort
Coordinating Producer: Elizabeth Benjes
Project Director: Pamela Rosenstein
Production Assistance: Matthew Buckley, Emily Pattison, Sean Cuddihy, Hanna Ali
Audio Mix: Heart Punch Studio
Director of Audience Development: Dante Graves
Senior Digital Producer: Ari Daniel
Audience Engagement Editor: Sukee Bennett
Outreach Manager: Gina Varamo
Special thanks to the United States Antarctic Program

Archival:
Alasdair Turner, Elizabeth Delaquess / NSF, Matthew Siegfried, National Science Foundation, POND5, Storyblocks

Music: APM

National corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Draper. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the David H. Koch Fund for Science, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers. Additional funding is provided by the NOVA Science Trust.

Major funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, the George D. Smith Fund, and the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1713552. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

© WGBH Educational Foundation 2020

[vaszgul]

The fact that you have to heat refrigerators in Antarctica is amusing me

[robbiemize]

As someone who spent 13.5 months in Antarctica.... "freshies" as we called them, were always very desireable. We did have a small greenhouse that produced enough greens for salad once a week. Never looked forward to salad so much in all my life.

[shortattentionspangarage]

I spent 378 days at the South Pole in 2019 thru 2020 and can confirm expiration dates are completely ignored. Granted, all the food down there is stored at -50F so it never really goes bad. I ate Nilla Wafers that expired in 2011, and they tasted exactly like a fresh box, amongst many other things. Unfortunately the ice cream had a diesel funk because the fuel arch was right next to the end of the food storage arch and the ice cream was closest. I think the only thing we had during our Winterover that wasn't expired was alcohol. That's brought in fresh each year. Priorities...

[shadowtheimpure]

It makes sense that Pizza would be so readily available and always fresh. Flour is VERY compressible, as is mozzarella cheese (ship it in whole logs and freeze it, keeps basically forever with little noticeable quality loss, same goes with pepperoni.

[adfmo]

I didn’t realize there was a small town there. I thought it was just a handful of scientists living on soup and astronaut food. Thanks so much for the education this video provided.

[sqrrlades]

Just real quick:
The "recycled food" is a little better than it sounds. "Repurposed food" is more accurate. It's like this: Say there is 40 pounds of pork chops that never went out to the service line. It is properly chilled by food service standards, and then the next day utilized to make pork green chili.
The "leftover" food is just an excess from a previous meal that is utilized in an appropriate way! Anything potentially dangerous would be wasted without a hesitation. In a place like this, we don't want to waste perfectly safe food since it is such a difficult process to get it down here in the first place! The more you know!
Good episode guys. It was nice to host you.

[robertfarmer]

I had a friend who was a McMurdo cook for many years, and he even got to cook for a few weeks at the South Pole station. He was going to help me get a job there, too, but I still had my wisdom teeth (you have to have those removed before living in Antarctica) and I moved to Thailand, instead. I love living in Thailand, but I really regret not taking that opportunity to live at McMurdo for a season or two.

[KumaBean]

I'm surprised at how many people and how much infrastructure is down there, I thought it was just that lab on stilts!

[CornTasteGood]

“We caught a bird feasting on a placenta of a newborn seal.”

*... that’s so metal.*

[agentswipe]

I'm most impressed by whoever built the very first structure there, that couldn't have been fun to build a structure in such extreme cold

[mechanic]

The reality of how important food is in a harsh environment like this is exactly the same on the opposite side of the coin! I worked in the little sandy desert in the Pilbara region of western Australia and had summer temps of 50c+ daily and the food supply was amazing . Fresh fruit and vegetables along with everyone's favourite weekly dinner were all there, as the working conditions were terrible and the only thing you had to look forward too was dinner and beer o'clock👍 the funniest sight was a McDonald's sign that said 2300km 👇

[bfsmedia]

"I ate an embarrassing amount of pizza"

There is no such thing

[accountnamewithheld]

"Can you eat something pickled 100 years ago?"

**Steve1989MRE already booking flight to Antarctica**

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

"Add cheese, just add cheese, that's the trick" should be the new motto of Wisconsin. That humanity can go to the most inhospitable part of the world and bake bread, make a decent pizza and serve up chicken tenders is...honestly kind of inspiring. Just like those in not so developed countries, the people researching in Antarctica learn to make do with what they have. And it definitely beats the pemmican, cocoa, and in Amundsen's case fresh dog meat to prevent scurvy that affected Scott and his expedition.

[christianpabunan]

The situation in Antarctica is far from what I've imagined. I'm actually amazed on how there are shelters that can accommodate A LOT of people out there. Thank you for this content! I'm enlightened.

[kevinklein]

Hot sauce has gotta be the equivalent of cigarettes in jail.

[achanwahn]

I’m glad I’m not the only person amazed at the amount of people and buildings and how large the station is there. All the other documentary shows make it seem like small groups and temp shelters. This is a huge base with full service canteen. Wow!

[Rc]

This is the most interesting video I've seen in forever. I had no idea the base was so large and.... normal! It's so much more human than I thought it was. I always got the impression that it was completely clinical and alien somehow, like being on the ISS or something. I would love to experience this!

[rajr]

That's one happy video on life in Antarctica, when all we usually read and see is about the extremely harsh weather in what is after all a cold, cold desert. Huge establishment too.

[Julie-ipil]

It’s kind of sad recycled and expired meals in the most isolated continent still looks better then school lunch