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Wanted: chefs to cook for boatloads of seasick migrants Wanted: chefs to cook for boatloads of seasick migrants
(35 minutes later)
A private coastguard service is on a new search mission: for chefs to cook for its crews, and the thousands of refugees it’s likely to save this summer. A private coastguard service is on a new search mission: for chefs to cook for its crews, and the thousands of refugees it is likely to save this summer.
The Migrant Offshore Aid Station, set up last year by Italian-American philanthropists, aims to rescue some of the record numbers of migrants who capsize each week while trying to reach Europe by sea. In an advertisement that riffs on the call-to-arms supposedly made 101 years ago by Ernest Shackleton, as the explorer sought a team to reach the South Pole, MOAS is on the lookout for people to keep them all fed. The Migrant Offshore Aid Station, set up last year by Italian-American philanthropists, aims to rescue some of the record numbers of migrants capsizing while trying to reach Europe by sea. In an advertisement that riffs on the call-to-arms supposedly made 101 years ago by Ernest Shackleton as the explorer sought a team to reach the South Pole, MOAS is on the lookout for people to keep them all fed.
“Wanted: great chefs to brave the Mediterranean in exchange for an extraordinary adventure,” the advert reads. “Position is voluntary. Honour and recognition will follow in the event of success.”“Wanted: great chefs to brave the Mediterranean in exchange for an extraordinary adventure,” the advert reads. “Position is voluntary. Honour and recognition will follow in the event of success.”
Red wine, olive oil and fish will not be high on the menu. Instead the diet will generally consist of nutrition bars, and rice with tomato sauce – all prepared on ascale capable of satisfying 300 migrants at once. “It should be just very plain, with no seasoning for upset stomachs,” says Texan chef Simon Templer. Red wine, olive oil and fish will not be high on the menu. Instead the diet will generally consist of nutrition bars, and rice with tomato sauce – all prepared on ascale capable of satisfying 300 migrants at once. “It should be just very plain, with no seasoning for upset stomachs,” said Simon Templer,
He should know. Templer was last year’s chef, keeping the MOAS crew and guests well fed on their 15-day missions. He was the only cook aboard the Phoenix, MOAS’s 40-metre boat, which saved more than 3,000 migrants as they tried to reach Europe from north Africa. who last year was the only cook aboard the Phoenix, MOAS’s 40-metre boat, which saved more than 3,000 stricken migrants.
Related: Good samaritans launch mission to save migrants in the MediterraneanRelated: Good samaritans launch mission to save migrants in the Mediterranean
In another life, Templer was a sous-chef at a Marriott hotel in New Orleans. There are similarities between the two jobs, he reckons: both can involve feeding hundreds of people at a time. But at the Marriott, “you’re not rocking back and forward and having to worry about pots sliding off the stove”. In another life Templer, from Texas, was a sous-chef at a Marriott hotel in New Orleans. There were similarities between the two jobs, he said: both could involve feeding hundreds of people at a time. But at the Marriott, he said, “you’re not rocking back and forward and having to worry about pots sliding off the stove”.
Your clients are also unlikely to have just escaped death. Whereas aboard the Phoenix, when Templer wasn’t cooking for the crew, his guests were refugees soaked to the skin, many of them minors. “The first boatloads were infants – screaming children,” he remembers of the first rescue mission. “I was overwhelmed. I just couldn’t believe there would be so many children.” Hotel clients are also unlikely to have just escaped death, whereas aboard the Phoenix, when Templer wasn’t cooking for the crew, his guests were refugees soaked to the skin, many of them minors. “The first boatloads were infants – screaming children,” he recalled of the first rescue mission. “I was overwhelmed. I just couldn’t believe there would be so many children.”
Many of those rescued are seasick, and all are hungry. One Syrian refugee aiming to cross the Mediterranean on Tuesday is taking a bottle of water and a small wheel of brie. “If we have no food, I’ll have something to eat,” says Abu Osama, who has booked on an illegal trip from Egypt. “It’s light and it’ll last a long time.” Many of those rescued were seasick, and all were hungry. One Syrian refugee aiming to cross the Mediterranean on Tuesday said he was taking a bottle of water and a small wheel of brie. “If we have no food, I’ll have something to eat,” said Abu Osama, who had booked on an illegal trip from Egypt. “It’s light and it’ll last a long time.”
But whether such supplies will last the length of the week-long sea journey is doubtful – making the role of the new MOAS chef all the more important. And on a boat like the Phoenix, a chef is not just a chef: he or she has to become a life-saver like the rest of the crew. But whether such supplies will last the length of the week-long sea journey is doubtful, making the role of the new MOAS chef all the more important. And on a boat like the Phoenix, a chef is not just a chef – he or she has to become a life-saver like the rest of the crew.
When a boatload of migrants arrive, the cook has to muck in with the rest of crew – ferrying supplies around, or boiling water to help sterilising drinking bottles for babies. “This isn’t just a cook job,” Templer says. “You’re part of a mission.” When a boatload of migrants arrives, the cook has to muck in with the rest of crew, ferrying supplies around or boiling water to help sterilise drinking bottles for babies. “This isn’t just a cook job,” Templer said. “You’re part of a mission.”
This year the MOAS mission has become all the more significant. In 2014, half of the 170,000 migrants rescued from the sea were saved by a full-scale Italian military operation called Mare Nostrum. But last October, Mare Nostrum folded, amid fears it was encouraging migration rather than ending it. It left the job of search-and-rescue in the hands of ordinary coast-guards, a small border-protection force run by the EU – and MOAS. Since its closure, the death rate at sea has spiked, and is expected to eclipse even last year’s record death toll of more than 3,400. This year the MOAS mission has become all the more significant. In 2014, half of the 170,000 migrants rescued from the sea were saved by a full-scale Italian military operation called Mare Nostrum. But last October Mare Nostrum folded amid fears it was encouraging migration rather than ending it.
It left the job of search and rescue in the hands of ordinary coastguards, a small border-protection force run by the EU – and MOAS. Since its closure, the death rate at sea has spiked, and is expected to eclipse last year’s record death toll of more than 3,400.
Related: Record number of migrants expected to drown in Mediterranean this yearRelated: Record number of migrants expected to drown in Mediterranean this year
With only one boat, MOAS can’t possibly fill the vacuum. But it will try: this year, the Phoenix will patrol the Mediterranean for three months instead of one, says MOAS’s director, Martin Xuereb. With only one boat, MOAS can’t possibly fill the vacuum. But it will try: this year, the Phoenix will patrol the Mediterranean for three months instead of one, said MOAS’s director, Martin Xuereb.
“The issue of migration is very complex and we have full respect for people trying to find solutions that are more longterm,” says Xuereb, the former head of the Maltese military. “But when there is someone who is crossing the Mediterranean and is in danger of losing his life, what we need to ensure is that person does not drown at sea.” “The issue of migration is very complex and we have full respect for people trying to find solutions that are more longterm,” said Xuereb, a former head of the Maltese military. “But when there is someone who is crossing the Mediterranean and is in danger of losing his life, what we need to ensure is that person does not drown at sea.”