Antarctica is a far way from home for executive sous Chef Lou Sabella. But love and dedication are a part of the feeding process at McMurdo Station.
"What we really try to focus on is trying to keep up and keep people happy," said Sabella. "Food is the biggest way we can do that around here."
Nearly 1,200 people rely on the Trumbull County native's skills. They're researchers and contractors doing important science work. Food is their fuel.
"We are prepping two days out and trying to have our proteins ready to go," said Sabella. "Any given meal has between eight and 12 man hours of prep time going into it."
Recently, Debbie Wing with the National Science Foundation, which runs the U.S. Antarctic Program, got to meet Sabella, and more importantly, taste his food.
"It was wonderful, and I think I put on a few pounds from his wonderful cooking," said Wing.
Sabella left a job at a Cleveland country club to move south. His food is tasty and protein is key, because trekking around the terrain requires lots of energy.
"Two hundred fifty pounds of pork tenderloin we have to fillet out and stuff, roll, and tie," he said. "It gets pretty elaborate."
Getting the food to McMurdo Station is not easy.
"All of our meat comes in on a vessel that comes in January," he said. "It is stored in freezer, unites down here on station, and that supplies us through the summer season and through the next winter."
Fresh fruits and veggies come once a week by military flight, weather permitting.
"They love when those flights come in, and I know our flight was, I thought 'oh wow they're so excited to see us', but they were just excited to see the fruits and vegetables coming in," Sabella said.
The hats are off to the man who's able to work food magic in a kitchen unlike most.
"We cook like 90 percent from scratch," he said.
