Jay Erickson
Senior Cook
RV Roger Revelle
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
On this Expedition:
On the RV Roger Revelle, the senior cook has maybe one of the most difficult tasks. For two months, the cook prepares three cooked meals every day from supplies that are ordered and brought on board before leaving port. Our fresh foods, fruits and vegatables have to be carefully kept so that it will last as long as possible. Food is really important for crew morale; after awhile at sea, it is not easy to provide variety and interesting food, and yet it becomes more important the longer the ship is at sea! We keep a list of birthdays and always have a cake at dinner on those days. We have a good stock of ice cream and bake fresh bread and muffins almost every day. It is a lot of work, but the crew and science teams really do appreciate it.

About myself:
I had been cooking for fifteen years on assorted types of vessels in Alaska and Russia. Then I told myself I wanted to cook the equator before I'm fifty. A couple of years later Scripps called and I was on my way to crew up the Scripps ship RV Melville in New Guinea, and I have been working the South Pacific ever since.
For Students:
For most people, going to sea just seems like the best way to travel, but for me it turned into a way of life.
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