The Shackleton Centenary Meal Challenge, view the menu
Arctic explorers are famed for consuming thousands of calories in a day. Facing some of the toughest conditions that the planet has to offer, they need a massive amount of energy simply to keep their bodies going. And if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to consume that much, Green Door Bar and Grill, on London’s Cornhill, is now giving you the opportunity to do so.
To honour the exploits of this winter’s Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition, Green Door has put together a special menu that matches the 6,000 calories that the team will be consuming.
In a modern-day re-enactment of the 1909 Nimrod Expedition, the Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition will see five descendants of the original team set off on October 29th, exactly 100 years to the day after their ancestors. The team will use Shackleton’s personal compass to navigate the icy wastelands, covering a total distance of 900 miles. Whilst doing so, they will be consuming around 6,000 calories daily to ensure they have enough energy to face the gruelling task of pulling 300lb sledges for ten hours a day.
Alexa Reid, MD of Green Door, explains: “I’ve always been a huge fan of Shackleton, and when I heard about the expedition, I thought that this would be a great way to get involved.”
In addition to featuring a 20oz version of Green Door’s famous Aberdeen Angus steak, the £75 meal will also include a Bovril toddy, as well as a modern twist on “hoosh”, a staple in the early days of polar exploration. Whilst in Shackleton’s time this comprised a mixture of penguin and cereal, Green Door has devised an altogether more appetising version, this time
based on goose rather than penguin.
The substantial meal will be on Green Door’s menu from September 25th, and will be available to hungry restaurant-goers prepared to take the Shackleton Centenary Meal Challenge until the team reach the Pole, which is expected to be around January 17th next year. For every meal sold, a £5 donation will be made to the Shackleton Foundation charity.
Eat like an explorer, view our gallery
The leader of the Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition, Lt. Col. Henry Worsley, a descendant of Shackleton’s skipper Frank Worsley, is keen to point out that the Expedition is driven by more than a simple desire to complete their ancestors’ unfinished business.
Worsley explains: “We’re using the venture to launch the £10m Shackleton Foundation, a charity designed to fund and support individuals who exemplify the spirit of Sir Ernest Shackleton: inspirational leaders wishing to ‘make a difference’, in particular to the less advantaged.”
Commenting on the sheer volume of calories in Green Door’s creation, Worsley says: “Obviously this isn’t a meal for the faint-hearted, but I’m sure there are a few people in the City who’ll be up for the challenge. There will, of course, be honour and recognition in the case of success!”
Sir Ernest Shackleton is canonised in Antarctic exploration history for his 1908-9 Nimrod Expedition. The expedition reached the latitude of 88°23’S, but in the face of almost certain death, Shackleton ordered his men to turn back. The team had come within 97 miles of the Pole – the furthest any human had ever ventured at the time.
This October, exactly one hundred years to the day, a team of amateur adventurers, all descendants of the original Nimrod Expedition team members, will boldly attempt to “close the Pole” and finish the journey that their ancestors began.
The expedition is being used to launch the Shackleton Foundation, a charity designed to fund and support individuals who exemplify the spirit of Sir Ernest Shackleton. It is the Foundation’s intention to raise £10 million over the next five years, to fund leaders with the ability to inspire and energise others, particularly the less advantaged.
The Foundation hopes that the Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition will inspire others to cross their own personal Antarctics. Through the Shackleton Foundation, ambitions like Sir Ernest’s can become a life-changing reality. |
