Jennifer Tabor is a celebrity. Her development of an innovative culinary arts course at Skyview High School, Soldotna, Alaska, earned her kudos as the 1997 U.S. National Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year. To receive her award she was flown from her current hometown of Sterling, Alaska, to Washington, D.C., where she was recognized at a weeklong series of events.

I know, you, like me, are wondering just how an Alaskan high school teacher finds herself preparing meals (and excellent ones I might add) for the 36 support staff and scientists who currently call Palmer Station, Antarctica, home sweet home?

Apparently it all started 21 years ago when as a student at Iowa State University, Jennifer decided to interview for vocational teaching positions in the Bering Strait School District of Nome, Alaska. Four Iowa State students were selected for the Alaskan teaching positions. Over two decades later, all four of them are still living and working in Alaska. One of them Jennifer married.

When she first arrived in Nome, Jennifer found an opportunity to not only teach at the vocational boarding school, but also assume the school’s cooking duties. On top of developing her skills in the culinary arts, she took on several additional vocations, among them the historic Antarctic and Arctic tradition of driving dog sleds.

When a teaching position took her to Unalakleet, an Eskimo village on the Alaskan coast, she assisted year after year with the internationally renowned Iditarod Sled Dog Race that passed right through the middle of town. Once the proud owner of 35 sled dogs entered regularly in local racing events, Jennifer has since toned down her pack to just a mere 10 huskies.

But then there are the four llamas. Jennifer says her llamas have marvelous personalities and like to have their necks scratched. Moreover, they serve as agile pack animals in the Alaskan summers when she and her husband make regular camping pilgrimages into the back country of the Kenai Peninsula.

Jennifer’s other major vocation is nature photography. Alaska and Antarctica provide perfect backdrops to hone these skills. To her delight, over the past three years she has taught a course on the mechanics, science and art of photography, an awakening experience for her students at Skyview High. My guess is that she may yet teach photography here in Antarctica too.

So how did Jennifer land, on her first try, one of THE plum assistant chef positions on the Antarctic continent? Even skilled chefs who have worked many summer and winter seasons at the much larger McMurdo Station, Antarctica, have tried fruitlessly to land themselves at Palmer Station. According to Jennifer it all came down to her past work experiences in Alaska. For example, how many people have experience teaching and cooking at a small live-in school in an isolated harsh environment like Nome, Alaska? Think about it ... this is a perfect model for Palmer Station! Voilà!

And how important is a chef in this remote Antarctic environment? Let’s just say that life here pretty much revolves around meals, and that the quality and character of these meals, and who prepares them, is critical to morale, health, and “spiritual” well being. Thus, the chef is sort of a parent/nutritionist/psychologist all rolled into one.

How can your spirits not be lifted when you find yourself facing cinnamon French toast, stromboli, or digging into home made coffee cakes? Jennifer Tabor is indeed a skilled chef, teacher, and photographer, and a testament to the remarkable people one meets on this remote continent.