Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-07-20
Rome Chief Steward
Preparing 1,4OO Lbs.
OF Food For Trail
By Comdr. Finn Rome
North American Newspaper Alliance


ROME EXPEDITION BASE,
stonington Island, Marguerite Bay,
Antarctic, July Is Delayed Mo-
body has been able to sleep well for
the last week because of the fine
aroma of frying bacon which comes
from the galley all night long. Chief
Commissary Steward Sigmund GU
tenko, an old hand at the job, is
finishing the ingredients for 1000
pounds of pemmican to be eaten by
the men of our first trail party. The
men will leave in day or so on a
17-mile trip to establish weather
station on a high plateau.
Pemmican is the basic food taken
on trail.parties, and It's importance
is obviously great. Students Of nu-
triton believe that faulty and in
sufficient diet caused the unfortunate
death in 1912 of Capt. Robert F.
SCOTS party Of five when they
froze to death Just II miles short of
one of their major food depots.
Many Varieties of Mixture.
Pemmican has been much i'm
proved since those days. There are
many different varieties Of the mix
ture. Ours Is tried and true for
mula first conceived by DR.. Dana
Conan, who spent many years in
the polar regions.
Our pemmican contains a high
percentage of fats, to quickly furnish
body heat. Other ingredients are
soybean flour, bacon, dried beef,
liver powder, milk and oatmeal.
In the 1s40-1s41 Antarctic expedi-
ton, I used this pemmican exclu-
sively while on the trail for 81 days.
During this trip we covered 1884
miles by sledge and dog team, and I
can truthfully say that I never felt
more physically fit. What's more, I
consider 1t delicious, both hot and
cold. When 1t is served hot It is
melted from its hardened form and
mixed with water to make q thick
soup resembling heavy pea soup.
DR.. Conan and Chief Gutenko
made large patches Of Pemmican by
this same formula for American
Army and Navy units during the
war. Gutenko says the secret of
making pemmican tasty is in the
accurate weighing and mixing of
the different ingredients. The mix
mig Is best done by hand.
Here in the Antarctic the prepa-
ration Of pemmican is not easy
because here nothing Is easy. The
cooking is done on huge 400
pound temperamental coal range,
and, because of shipping space, we
have only the bare essentials In
cooking utensils.
viii Make Biscuits Next.
As soon as Gutenko finishes the
pemmican, he and Climatologist
Larry Fiske. who has been working |
with him in the galley, will turn
their hands to making 400 pounds
of delicious oatmeal trail biscuits.
When they're through with that,
they'll start making up the actual
packages of trail rations.
Trail rations for any given man
are first divided and put into small
bags. These small bags are then put
into one large bag, which is known
as a one-man ration. 1t will last
one man for 80 days.
Each daily ration contains $500
Galleries, in addition to all essential |
proteins, minerals and vitamins, and
yet 1t weighs only 81 ounces. The
biggest single item is pemmican, |
which makes up II ounces of the
daily diet, followed by six ounces of
biscuit, four ounces of milk choco-
late, four ounces of whole milk
powder, two ounces of oatmeal, and
two Of butter. Other items include
lump sugar, bacon, dried fruit, pea
nuts and almonds, cocoa, salt and
pepper.
Seeing all this food in prepare
ton Is making some Of the men
anxious to get on the trail.