May 25, 2014

"They dined on whatever they managed to forage from snow drifts or whatever provisions they brought along — their ponies and sled dogs included."

"The practice of eating pack animals, while seemingly cruel, was driven by a compelling logic: As the explorers consumed food and fuel, their sled loads lightened. Lighter sleds needed fewer dogs to pull them. Dogs thus made redundant became food for their fellows and the explorers. Amundsen slaughtered 24 healthy dogs during a single expedition. Doing so filled him with a sublime awe. 'Great masses of beautiful fresh, red meat,' he wrote of the butchering, 'with quantities of the most tempting fat, lay spread over the snow,' calling to mind 'memories of dishes on which the cutlets were elegantly arranged side by side, with paper frills on the bones, and a neat pile of petit pois in the middle.'"

From "The Art of Antarctic Cooking" (via Metafilter).

19 comments:

traditionalguy said...

War on dogs!

Anonymous said...

The South Pole hero to me is Shackleton

SteveR said...

Lewis and Clark munched a few dogs

Megaera said...

Thus explaining the unfortunate tendency of so many cold-weather expeditions to turn to "long pig" ... viz. the Donner Party, the Franklin expedition ... -- you're right, SGT, Shackleton's was an amazing accomplishment.

Wilbur said...

Maybe they'd have enjoyed Angel and Jojo.

Anonymous said...

Hot wiener dogs...with onions, mustard, and relish on a sweet roll bun. Yum.

Hagar said...

Puts a new meaning to the term "good dog."

Anonymous said...

Husky Tar-Tar and Sled Dog soup on the menu tonight.

traditionalguy said...

Popular dog names: Slaw, Chili, Chicago, Wiener, Coney Island and Mustard.

David said...

Next trip, they should take along a few dog owners who have electric fences.

averagejoe said...

LOL! What TraditionalGuy said! Althouse is putting dogs and their invisible owners on notice! Meade, you're a dog lover, do something! I'm expecting an anti-canine manifesto soon, followed by reports from Madison of mass mutt murder...

George M. Spencer said...

Shackleton and his men ate their 69 or 70 sled dogs, then turning to penguin for sustenance.

All survived after 497 days on the Antarctic pack ice (not land), followed by a 15 day voyage in a small boat in stormy seas (by Shackleton and a few men), while the ship's company waited on a desolate polar island another four-and-a-half months for him to return.

Dog sounds good to me.

Anonymous said...

Blogger SteveR said...
Lewis and Clark munched a few dogs

5/25/14, 6:14 PM
_________________________


The Aztecs munched on lots of dogs.

Sprezzatura said...

Seems like this could be part of the war on Norwegian chow choices.

Erik said...

It sounds as if, were he still alive, Amundsen could have worked as a chef in the Obama White House…

Patrick said...

I shopped at Home Depot this morning. I then gorged on dogs.

Just sayin'.

Neshobanakni said...

"SteveR said...
Lewis and Clark munched a few dogs

5/25/14, 6:14 PM"

It's a Sioux thing, you wouldn't understand ...

Neshobanakni said...

"SteveR said...
Lewis and Clark munched a few dogs

5/25/14, 6:14 PM"

It's a Sioux thing, you wouldn't understand ...

RuyDiaz said...

But in Shackleton's 'Voyage of Endurance' (epic shipwreck), the problem with dogs was different... the men were heartbroken when they had to kill them. They were going to cross open water in boats, and there was no space for the dogs. That's the one thing most men of the expedition remembered with regret.