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Galley slave
By Lesley, assistant cook. 29 March. Well, as you might
have noticed, the Rainbow Warrior crew have stopped being
action heroes for a few days (see Meghan's
PAT diary), so Meghan is now desperately seeking diary
writers to entertain you until we get back into the thick
of it.
I've decided to take time out from the galley, which at
the moment is 35 degrees off horizontal (we are in a Force
7 gale), to tell you what it's like being a galley slave
on a Greenpeace ship.
Now first things first - qualifications. You need to love
cooking. Not just occasionally, but every day. Second, it's
best if you are not susceptible to seasickness (is that
a special garnish on my pasta?). And third, if you have
webbed feet or special suckers on your shoes it really really
helps for those lovely days like today.
Although you must love cooking, you must also be prepared
to follow orders. As galley slave, you don't think, you
wash and chop. Sometimes I don't even know what we've cooked
because I am so busy chopping and it's as much a surprise
for me as it is for the crew when the food comes out into
the mess!
Now, me and the new Marko (this one is Finnish, while the
other one is Dutch) work in a space nine meters square and
produce two meals a day for our crew of 22. I've already
mentioned that we have to provide meat, vegetarian, vegan,
no nuts and no cheese diets so I won't go into that again.
I'll tell you a bit about the galley instead. We have one
large oven and four hobs (all electric - yeuk), one huge
black fryer and that's it. All food must be created using
a combination of those things.
In the middle of the galley there is a steel unit with
one huge and one not so huge sink in it. Not only does this
provide the main surface area for preparation, it also demarcates
the positions of professional cook and galley slave. Marko
stays on the side next to the oven and I stay on the side
next to the drain in the floor!
I love the sinks though. They are so deep that I could
have a bath in them. Of course I don't, but all my vegetables
do. I run them a nice deep cold water bath and let them
swim in it for five minutes or so before whipping them out
and chopping them up.
Ah the fridge - talk about the fridge. I love that too.
It's a huge walk in thing and it's like being in your favourite
supermarket (when we are stocked up), you just wander along
the shelves picking out the veggies and cheeses and bread
etc. that you want, but then leave without paying! Don't
like the walk in freezer much though. I always forget to
wrap up warm before entering and then spend two minutes
hopping around screaming 'where are the bloody frozen peas'
- I'll be joining them in a minute.
Now, the fridge and freezer are underneath the galley.
The only way down is a ladder-like stairway. Sometimes it's
hard getting up those stairs (sorry, ladder) carrying your
shopping basket full of goodies when the ship is doing aerobics
on you. Sometimes I think I need a rope for safety.
Finally - music. Where there is good cooking, there is
always good music. I've got my excellent CD collection.
I think I told you earlier that I start the day with Chris
Isaaks and end with Tom Jones or Robbie Williams or even
Madonna or Fatboy Slim. Marko has other ideas. The moment
he entered the galley the first thing he did was spend an
hour setting up his mini disc system. There was duct tape
everywhere until he had safely arranged everything and got
the speakers in the best position for him. His taste in
music is very very varied. Disgustingly heavy rock, followed
by psychedelic trance, followed by Pavarotti. Luckily I
can live with all of it and can even be seen dancing on
the drain to some of it!
Lesley
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