Alaska Cooks

I’ve spent the last week working on the North Slope of Alaska, up where the oil fields perch on the edge of the continent. Full-time Slope workers generally work two week rotations of 12 hour shifts; on the job for two weeks and then off for two weeks. The lodging is a bit like dormitory accommodations and food that’s a step or two up from what you may remember from the college cafeterias. The facilities are aging a bit, built in the heyday of the Alaska oil boom, but they are well kept, clean, and offer surprising amenities. The rooms are private; there are full gyms and workout equipment, atriums, native art, and even a pool at the main “camp”. The environment inside has to be nice - the environment outside is pretty hellish for 9 months of the year. Temperatures in the winter get down to -40 on a regular basis, with -60 or worse not that unusual. It’s a flat and nearly featureless landscape, and since most of the facilities are on or within a few miles of the coastline, the wind blows constantly with nothing to stand in its way. The wind chill factors are ferocious even on warm winter days - when it’s only -20. In the summer, which basically means June through August, the temperatures can get up to 80, or it can snow almost anytime. The price paid for the few warm sunny days is dear - mosquitoes (roughly the size of my new nephew) swarm up from the tundra seeking your tender spots. In a place like this where days are long, shifts last for weeks, and the environment is working against you, food becomes pretty important.

The glory days of the oil industry in Alaska have passed, and the days of crab, filet, and shrimp at every dinner have too. Still, meals are one of the things in a workcamp that keep morale up (or down), and especially so in a place inhospitable as the Slope is. There are few things to look forward to in a workday here, and meal times are a one of them. Shifts center around them as way to recharge, fuel up, and put a few breaks in long days. All this to say that the food is important, and it can make or break the attitudes and mindsets of those working a stressful job in a very stressful environment. Although the dressing is usually ranch, the burgers are frequent, and the food could be said to lean toward the industrial side, the owner companies have recognized that happy and healthy employees are intrinsic to a healthy bottom line and have made adjustments to the menus. It is easy to tell old guard from the new arrivals on the oil fields, basically by the size of the bellies that most of the old-timers lug around. When food is plentiful and it’s your only entertainment, the workforce gets pear-shaped pretty quickly. Several years ago there was a push to bring the food inline with a more healthy lifestyle, and it changed accordingly. Fried things are still always available, and I’m pretty sure that you could find bacon, tater tots, and like 24 hours a day.The flip side that fresh salmon, cod, broiled chicken, rice, and a host of more healthy foods are the rule and not the exception. There are vegetables that have never met the Jolly Green Giant, and while one can still have a salad (with actual greens) doused in ranch, these days grabbing a vinaigrette isn’t going to get you any funny looks. Tuesday night at the BP Base Operations Center the line cook asked me how I like my roast beef, and then thudded an inch and a half thick slab of rare cow on my plate, completely obscuring the fresh green beans (both of them) and steamed rice. And I was happy.