by Wendy Trusler and Carol Devine
Design by The Office of Gilbert Li
Principal Photography by Sandy Nicholson
Vauve Press, Dec 2013 (out of print)
HarperDesign, an imprint of HarperCollins, picked it up for release May 5, 2015 (blue cover). How to buy it now.
The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning is a journey through one austral summer—the story of an environmental cleanup project by Carol Devine and Wendy Trusler at a Russian scientific station on a small island off the Antarctic coast. The book is also a look at the challenges of cooking in a makeshift kitchen at the bottom of the world.
In a polar journal style, woven throughout are historic and contemporary images, food stories, recipes, journal excerpts and vignettes from Antarctica’s short history and this Joint Russian-Canadian Ecological Project. It features 42 recipes by visual artist and cook Trusler while feeding volunteers at the bottom of the world on a remote continent uniquely devoted to peace, international cooperation and science.
Whenever adventure beckons, an open mind and a full stomach are necessities.
A snapshot of Accolades:
Shortlisted for Culinary Narrative, Taste Canada Food Writing Awards 2014
Merit honour for design, Advertising and Design Club of Canada 2014
The Art of Antarctic Cooking, The New Inquiry by Christine Baumgarthuber
Highlife Magazine, British Airways, Cooking up hot dishes in a cold climate, by Bella Bathurst
The Antarctic Cookbook, Ernest Journal, UK magazine and app
Best Served Chilled/Souper a glace, enroute magazine Air Canada, by Alex Redgrave
Story of Life at a Russian Research Station, Women's Adventure Magazine by Cat Croteau
Pure Green Living Podcast 11 Finding the Antarctic, Fulfilling Dreams & Compelling Change with Carol Devine by Celine MacKay
Green with Renvy: Travel and Lifestyle in sustainable shades of Green, US
“I can’t tell you how much I’m loving your book–it is beautifully put together for starters. There is so much personality in it. I love the journal entries spliced with the recipes and the mix of old photos with new ones. I love the food photography also, which is so highly appealing. The sense of place is wonderful–after reading so many books on Antarctica, it’s great to come upon this particular one, which is unique and contemporary and from the point of view of women. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the interactions with the Russians, as well as details of how the expedition was put together. It’s a wonderful, adventurous book–very transporting! I hope you do so well with it.” – Maria Mutch, author of Know the Night, A Memoir of Survival in the Small Hours
“The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning is very elegant. The pictures are beautiful and the recipes look delicious.” -Elena Pontiatowska Amor, author, Mexico
“It’s a magnificent book, from the archival photographs, both personal and historical, to the eccentricity of your writing…and especially for the tone, the project of it, ethically – and your curiosity and generosity towards the people you were with. It’s been a real joy to encounter a kind of wonder I recognize and relate to so strongly.”
-Soraya Peerbaye, author of Poems for the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names
“Glad to hear about your work on polar “housekeeping” ... which is as Ursula Le Guin writes, not for “amateurs.” And I think you know what kind of history she was indicting. Good wishes for your project — it is ecological in the best sense, paying attention to the whole process, what goes in our systems and what comes out again — and must be cleaned up.” -Elena Glasberg, author of Antarctica as Cultural Critique: The Gendered Politics of Scientific Exploration and Climate Change
"travelogue, recipe book and mission report...three different genres, modalities of writing, each with their own histories and intentions. and yet, this book seamlessly weaves them together in what becomes a powerful and unrelenting excavation of the hearts and intentions of the two women writers and their teams members through their immersion in the splendor of what is so easily forgotten and yet always so present, the Antarctic. The creation of the camp kitchen, explorations of the diversity of peoples through food is nuanced, yet true and the magic of the dishes mirrors the finding of the scrap metal and debris from previous Antarctica missions and the making of gifts. The most potent and lasting Gift of all, of course, being the embracing of humanity by the magical complex landscape so beautifully captured in word and photographs through decades of adventurers and seekers." - Deirdre Prins-Solani, Cultural Heritage Expert, South Africa
“I love the whole package – well written, great photography, personal adventure, good cause, lots of great polar exploration history and reference, etc. Something we would all love to do but just could never allocate the time, even if we had the balls to step out into the unknown like that. [I am ordering six more copies to] share with friends who might have that same sense of adventure and creativity trapped deep down inside themselves. This book is a way for them to access their “inner explorer.” Michael Young, Dallas
“I believe the project was among the first of this kind and this was the most significant value because it helped to draw attention to Antarctic environment protection. Also it was very much in the spirit of Antarctic Treaty provisions when people of different countries and of social status worked together following the dictates of their hearts. I do remember Wendy’s delicious food and how she fought a stove which run poorly due to bad quality of gas or other reason and she was covered with black soot almost all the time. I still use her recipes for cinnamon buns and turkey.”
-Lena Nikolaeva, Russian Antarctic Expedition, Liaison officer Joint Russian-Canadian Ecological Project, Bellingshausen 1995-1996
A truly amazing creation. It’s a book, yes, but it’s also an art object, a personal journal, an environmental meditation and more, with mouth-watering recipes to boot! Nancy Payne, Editor Kayak, Canada’s History Magazine for Kids
While garbage exists everywhere, it cannot even decompose in Antarctica, so 54 individuals set out to pick up 28 years worth of garbage place in the summer of 1996, hence the “Cleaning” [Carol Devine]. The “Cooking” comes from the author, Wendy Trusler who fed the crew with her own recipes from home, ones she came up with on the expedition + borrowed from their international neighbors, including Brazilian, Uruguayan + Chilean dishes. 42 of those recipes can be found in this book, along with breathtaking photographs, journal entries, letters, menu plans + provision lists.
This book will leave you as inspired as it does hungry. Food broke the ice on the icy continent when language stood as a barrier between the temporary neighbors in Antarctica. New friends feasted on Wendy’s honey oatmeal bread, rosemary maple borscht + chocolate crème, and now you can too from the comforts of your own home.
The sublime images of the dreamy atmospheric landscapes evoke such tranquility, this collection could stand alone as a coffee table book even if the recipes weren’t tried in the kitchen. Beyond the illuminating photographs + delectable cuisine, The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning shares a truly original story from the bottom of the world + teaches us a lesson in the wonders we can make from close to nothing in our own. – Drake General Store, Toronto
The Antarctic Project, the Northern Hemisphere secretariat for the Antarctic & Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), comprised of 240 environmental groups in 50 countries, recognized The VIEW Foundation’s efforts in 1996 [Project Antarctica] was a first...: people and staff spending their time and resources cooperating in an effort to improve the environment. The success of this project has encouraged The VIEW Foundation to organize a cleanup of a different base in the up-coming season. The Antarctic Project applauds this effort as an example of what eco- tourism is all about: leaving a bit of the Earth a little better than the way it was found.” 1995
Vauve Press published a limited edition, 2nd Place, of Sandy Nicholson's project on people and team who place second in competitions.
Design: The Office of Gilbert Li
Magenta Foundation picked it up and published it in 2008 (2nd: The Face of Defeat). Second place captures contestants and competitors following the announcement that they have not won first prize. This gently ironic and at times humorous work explores the moments after personal hopes have been dashed. The project is about expectation and failure in the world of modern competitions. Loss and disappointment are the norm for a majority of competitors, even if the discrepancy between first and second place is minute.
Australian-Canadian photographer Sandy Nicholson photographed all subjects moments after athletes or competitors had stepped down from the podium or immediately following announcement of their standings.
Images provided by Sandy Nicholson. All rights reserved.
Read a full review in Lens Culture
"Nicholson gives the viewer a front row seat to the intensity of the match and the subsequent pride, disappointment, anger, and disbelief of the runner-ups, taking their photographs immediately after their losses. Their emotions are nearly tangible, with sweat dripping off of brows, fingers blistered, eyes dark-circled, and fake smiles plastered to the almost-winner's face.
The 2nd place portraits range from hilarious to humiliating to heartbreaking. Each is accompanied by the loser's own words, inspiring a sense of empathy from the loser in all of us." — Hilary Moss
"An ode to everybody who hasn’t pulled it out in the end. Photos that were just shot after someone took second place." - featured on Noorderlicht, a many-faceted and international platform, originally only for documentary photography, but now for any photographer who has a good story to tell.
When losing is winning, sort of. Online feature, Walrus Magazine
National Film Board of Canada Interactive
Few years ago, Applied Arts Magazine invited me to judge their annual design competition. In this trip to Toronto, I surveyed hundreds of pieces: posters, brand identities, packaging, books, and so on. Among the seemingly endless parade of entries there was one book that grabbed my attention, not precisely because of the design itself—although it was nicely done—but for the content instead. 2nd: The Face of Defeat, Photographs by Sandy Nicholson captures images of contestants soon after being awarded in their chosen fields. The images capture the entire gamut that conveys the anguish of almost winning; sadness, hopefulness, disappointment, surprise, anger, you name it. - Alfalfa Studio NYC
Australian Photographers "Growing up in Australia, Sandy collected lizards and snakes. He dreamed of becoming a herpetologist and having his own reptile park. Sandy turned to photography instead, he found photographs easier to store and look after than snakes. Sandy’s large-scale photographic survey work mirrors the process that biologists follow, collecting many sample of the same subject over a long period of time."
Final image, Magenta Foundation's 2nd cover, design Office of Gilbert Li.
By Marjorie Devine. 2003
Irma is the story of the living, and the dying, of a remarkable woman, Irma Kalmet. Throughout her idyllic childhood in Estonia, her career as a teacher on the Russian border, her escape to refugee camps in Germany, and her life as a new Canadian, she shows again and again, an incredible independence. In the last years of Irma's life, she valiantly struggles with multiple sclerosis, while reliving her colourful past as told to her dear friend.
Design: Janet New
“I hope Irma reaches a wide audience.” - June Callwood, journalist, Order of Canada
"Your Irma is a wonderful and very inspirational book...we will have your book as a recommended reading for some of our courses." -Vanja Velimirovic, Gerontology Program Advisor, Humber College
“Irma is of triumph of the human spirit. It’s a tale woven with the pain of loss and hope of starting anew. Devine compassionately describes a genuine person. Irma is a “must read”, compelling in its humanity, indelible in its sweep.” -Mr. Laas Leivat, President, Estonian Central Council in Canada
“As [Marjorie Devine] explores Irma’s years in prewar Estonia and postwar Europe, she discovers fascinating secrets about this feisty woman who demands all she can out of life. But she has to help Irma cope with ever-increasing disability because of multiple sclerosis and the harsh necessity of around-the-clock caregivers and loss of independence. Devine weaves these threads to create a testament to a memorable woman.” - Deanne Groetzinger, Vice-President, Communications, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
Vauve Press launched Irma with readings by Marjorie Devine at The University Women's Club, University of Toronto in 2003 and in Tallinn, Estonia in 2004 at the National Library and at the Tartu University Bookshop. Co-presented with the Canadian Embassy in Estonia.
In 2004 Vauve sold the Estonian rights to Irma to Tänapäev Publishers in Tallinn who published it. They made a lovely red cover with the image of Irma as a girl.
RD Congo Silence on meurt (Quiet, we are dying) was published by L'Harmattan, 2002
In order that their voices may be heard, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) published two collections of personal stories by Congolese civilians in 2002. The stories are taken from these R D Congo: Silence On Meurt - Témoignages [D R Congo: Quiet, We're Dying - Witness Accounts}.
For MSF Canada Carol Devine, then Program Director, managed the editing, translation and bound publication of excerpts of this book as well as readings from the book by diverse Canadians from The Canadian Red Cross, PEN Canada, Médecins Sans Frontières Canada, the UN and others in an event with Book TV.
"Today, more than ever, the Congolese people suffer in silence," MSF said. "In sharing their stories with us, it is with the hope that their testimony will contribute to positive change."
The book excerpt was distributed by MSF Canada to Canadian government officials working on Foreign Affairs and Humanitarian assistance and to key stakeholders and interested supporters in MSF, awarenessraising and humanitarian assistance for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Determination: Tibetan Women & the Struggle for an Independent Tibet, paperback, Vauve Press, printed at Porcupine's Quill Press, Canada, 1991
"Because the Tibetan independence movement has so long remained nonviolent, it has significance beyond nation-state theory, bilateral relations and government affairs. If Tibet wins its freedom through diplomacy and nonviolence, the impact on world relations could be great. Adopting the patience and determination of the Tibetan people could help humankind avoid the senseless death and widespread destruction that occurred in the Gulf War, and is occurring today in Bosnia-Herzegovina." This is the last paragraph of Carol Devine's new book, the first book exclusively on the role of Tibetan women in the independence struggle.
She states that she does not want to detract from the importance of the common struggle of Tibetan women and men, but to acknowledge women as crucial members of the movement. While doing research, she found that at times the experience of women was reduced to one paragraph in a book, and so her information is drawn from many different sources, including interviews she conducted herself with Tibetan women in exile.
...This book makes one want to hear more about Tibetan women."
-Review by Mary Hutchinson, World Tibet Network News, 1993
"Determination presents with great clarity, skill and sympathy the issues which confront Tibetan women. It is also the first work which deals exclusively with the Tibetan women's participation in the...political process, whether it is in Tibet or in exile, and as such deserves to be read by a larger audience." Thubten Samphel, Office of Tibet, New York
"Determination deals with the involvement of Buddhist nuns and laywomen in the 40-year non-violent struggle for independence from Chinese occupation. Devine provides the readers with background information about Tibet, and then, through first-person testimony and interviews, documents the courage and tenacity of Tibetan nns and laywomen, who face overwhelming odds when they speak out in support of independence for Tibet. Determination is must reading for anyone concerned about human rights and gender equality. And as Devine states in her introduction, "The search for what Tibetan women have to say was like looking into a mirror; if I cannot see other women's stories, I will not find my own.'" - Jackie Manthorne, author and former national administrator of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts; executive director of the Canadian Centre for International PEN (PEN Canada).
Carol's book has been included in numerous bibliographies and courses on women and war, women in Buddhism, non-violence movements, Tibet, China, ethnicity and gender studies, anthropology etc. including at Columbia University, University of Tennessee, University of Amsterdam, Hollins University, in the Virginia Review of Asian Studies, as well as in ethnographies and more.
This is a book-in-the-making about talking climate change with kids. Carol is in year two of a 10-year project with her daughter Veronica, visiting one glacier a year exploring glacier retreat and action to protect nature. The first year the explored Jokusarlon Glacier Lagoon and hiked on Vatnajokull glacier, Iceland and in January 2015 on the Athabasca Glacier, Alberta. Veronica grows as they recede worldwide, what does this mean to her, future generations and to humanity?
"A beautiful visually poetic piece with a prose that invites innocence." Dr James Orbinski, humanitarian, professor, author, Order of Canada, on the prototype of book 1
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