Food preparations before action…

Amber Paarman and Christine Bindal
Galley, Bob Barker

We were sweeping along the ice shelf in the Southern Oceans Whale Sanctuary and it was likely that we would engage the whalers in a day or two. The deckhands were getting their gear ready to go into battle while the bridge and engine room departments were trying to get as much sleep as possible in between their watches… but not Team Galley!

Team Galley keeps a careful watch to make sure that everyone is fed well, around the clock, seven days the week. The food is very important to keep the motivation and energy high for our fight for the whales.

Over the last few days we have been cooking up a vegan storm in our humble galley.

Some days before we found the illegal whaling fleet we worked longer hours to make extra meals to freeze. We prepared lunchboxes for the small boats and energy pocket snacks for our bridge people and throwing teams. It is always important that we have plenty of food so that we are available as extra hands during heated confrontations.

We plan to shut the illegal whalers down and keep them on the run until they give up and return home.

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This is an old favorite Bob Barker crew special:

-Crunchies-

To fill 32 pockets with sweet vegan pocket treats (this is a perfect high energy snack to hand out during confrontation with the whalers)

2 ¾ cups vegan margarine
4 tspn. bi-carbonate soda
4 cup sugar (preferably brown sugar if you have)
4 cup designated coconut
4 cups flour
7 cups of oats
4 heaping tablespoons syrup (maple, agave or golden syrup)

These are rough quantities; you can’t go wrong with this little recipe so don’t be afraid to play around with the quantities and ingredients :-). We sometimes like to add things like dates, puffed, quinoa, cacao nibs, nuts…

Melt the syrup and margarine together then stir in with the bi-carb until frothy. Add the flour, coconut, sugar and oats. Stir well. Press mixture into trays (you can make them either thin and crunchy or 2 or 3 cm deep to have them crunchy from the outside and soft in the middle; we usually make both to keep everyone smiling).

Bake at 300 F for about 30 minutes. Cut while still hot into squares and leave in tray until cool.