The menu will expand for Japanese researchers studying frozen Antarctica this winter, thanks appropriately enough to freeze-drying technology.

About 50 varieties of freeze-dried foods, from katsudon (pork cutlet on rice) to grilled fish, are packaged and ready to go for the 49th Antarctic expedition's researchers heading out on a lengthy field study in the polar region.

It will be the first time for team members to have a full menu of freeze-dried foods.

At a sampling session Oct. 1 at the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward, the crispy katsudon was voted the best dish by tasters.

Others liked the curry rice.

But some fatty fish dishes, such as unagi (eel) and sanma (saury), were described as tough.

While freeze-dried food may not be everyone's cup of tea, the new offerings are important for the 49th expedition's seven-member field team, which will be making geological observations about 600 kilometers from Syowa Station, Japan's main research base.

The 50-member team leaves Japan in late November for the summer season on the frozen continent.

The field team will carry all the food needed for the 80-day mission, traveling by foot or snowmobile and sheltering in tents.

The freeze-dried foods the seven members are taking weigh a total 138 kilograms. They would have had to lug 528 kg in ordinary foods to cook up the same menu.

"We hope to survive the long, severe field survey more pleasantly with this tasty food," said Mikio Abe, 54, who is handling logistics for the field trip.

The dishes were developed by Nippon Freeze Drying Co., a company in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, specifically for extended field trips.

Meats were sliced and vegetables pierced to enable the dehydrated foods to be easily restored to edibility with a little hot or cold water.

In the past, only a few kinds of freeze-dried ingredients, such as green onions, were taken on Japan's Antarctic expeditions. 10/25/2007　　asahi.com