SOUTH Africans will be hoping for sunny skies and perhaps a trip to the beach to braai for New Year’s Eve. But for celebrity chef and cookbook author Jenny Morris, these options will be out of the question.
She will still be cooking a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner, but she’ll be doing it in Antarctica, where even in summer temperatures don’t often rise above -5°C.
Morris is part of an upcoming 42-person expedition to the frozen continent, organised by Cape Town software development company ZaiLab. And while she will be showing off her culinary can-do, the Polar Nova expedition is not just about food.
ZaiLab has designed and constructed a 12-ton 6x6 truck on the chassis of a German military vehicle. Dubbed the ZaiTruck, the company will be putting it through its paces in one of the world’s harshest environments.
ZaiLab describes their ZaiTruck, currently being built in an electrical engineering plant in Bellville, as a “futuristic, hi-tech truck that looks more like a spacecraft than a land-bound vehicle”.
But why take it to Antarctica?
For ZaiLab chief executive Nour Addine Ayyoub, the company is “showing the world what we are capable of”.
The company purchased the chassis for the vehicle and the engine. The rest they designed and constructed themselves.
Ayyoub says the decision to travel to Antarctica will showcase the skills of his company’s designers. “We wanted to do something remarkable.”
Despite building the truck, ZaiLab is not a vehicle manufacturer. The local software development company creates software packages for use in contact or call centres. Instead of buying the software – which is hosted on the cloud – clients pay only for how often they use it.
Ayyoub, who is of Moroccan descent, first saw Morris on Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco.
He invited her to his office for a pitch: “We sat and had a chat and I was just blown away,” said Morris. “I am very excited about it.”
All the food will have to be flown to the research station. Morris is currently working out her menu, considering everything from succulent berries and legs of lamb to chocolate Lindt balls to deep-fry.