One of the great things about working in Antarctica is the amazing people from all walks of life that you meet. These people also bring with them a mind-boggling array of experience and skills. It is also a rare opportunity to learn a new skill that is completely outside of your normal expertise.
I wintered at Mawson in 2019 and was very happy to return home with new skills (novice level) that I had never previously considered pursuing. We were very fortunate to have legendary Antarctic chef Kim de Laive for the winter, and it so happened that he was a master sourdough baker. Back in the real world, he had set up a social enterprise sourdough bakery that assisted refugees to gain skills in literacy and numeracy through employment at his bakery in Sydney. For folks who aren’t aware, sourdough baking is a little bit of the dark arts that requires a lot of time, patience and frequent attention without ever being guaranteed that the end result will be what you expect. (A bit like raising children really!)
Anyhow, Chef Kim was very kind and patient with me and generously taught me how he made his magnificent loaves. My initial attempts were very irregular mis-shaped blobs sometimes, but I did persist, and by the end of the year I was trusted to produce the station’s weekly treat of fresh sourdough bread. This had an unexpected benefit that, when I returned to Melbourne to the great Ring of Steel COVID lockdown of 2020, I was way ahead of the pack when sourdough baking became the new ‘thing’ for housebound Melburnians who spent 262 days at home wondering what to do.
For those who are not already in the know, sourdough bread is not just ‘throw a few ingredients into a bowl, mix it all up and voilà’, no dear readers, you need to possess a magical creature called a starter that must be birthed, fed, attended to frequently and guarded closely (…again a bit like children) lest it be mistaken for garbage and accidently discarded. Kim had created his Antarctic starter with pristine ancient Mawson glacial ice but I had to start from scratch with Melbourne tap water. Again, persistence paid off, and I was eventually rewarded with a fresh new bubbly starter that was named in honour of my sourdough Master.
Fast forward 5 years and I am back at Mawson, this time with our fabulous chef Mickey, who has kindly allowed me in the kitchen to revive my previous role. So far, my new crew are not complaining and I have the fun of looking after a little living creature that magically turns flour and water into total deliciousness. Bon appétit!
